Vitus E-Sommet VR

[R120]

I had exactly that creak and it drove me nuts - was convinced it was the headset/front end at first, did exactly what you did to find it - funny thing is when it first started on a ride i stopped by my LBS on the way back as i thought i was going mad and wanted a second opinion.

The mechanic (who is a proper mechanical anarchist and top notch wrencher) leaned the bike over stood on the down tube and started flexing the hell out of the frame to see if it was any of the linkage bolts - he was actually pretty impressed with the flex in the rear end it as he thinks a lot of bikes can be too stiff and a lack of flex in the frame means linkages getting far more abuse, and that overly stiff bikes don't track as well.

Was pretty eye opening

 

[Gary]

is your mechanic Box by any chance?

I don't like excessive flex in rims or frames but have heard that argument for it for wheels and frames many times. I

 

[R120]

Nope not Box, I wouldn’t call the flex excessive but it made me think about the forces and what your bike is doing under you on the trails.

I still have a completely irrational dislike/mistrust of single crown suspension forks due to recollections of some overly flex Manitous I had back in the day, always slightly surprised how good modern forks perform. Can see some dual crowns making their way into the Vitus one day

 

[Gary]

haha... i'm the same. if you'd have told me 15 years ago I'd be riding a bike with a 170mm single crown fork and 27.5" wheels I'd have laughed out loud.
I won't be putting dual crowns on mine

 

[R120]

So lets talk about coil shocks - thinking of upgrading the suspension on the bike, not that i am unhappy with it, no complaints about the front end and have it set up and working how i want it, but never really nailed down the rear end, i have it set up now pretty well with correct sag etc but still find myself blowing through the full travel more often than not, never harshly bottoming out, but not quite how want it.

Thinking of making the move to a coil shock, probably a new Metric Super Deluxe coil.

Anyone else looked into a coil? Not going to deny that aesthetically a coil gets my juices flowing too.

A red 180mm Lyric RC2 may be on the shopping list too.

 

[thebarber]

I've looked at getting f&r serviced at tf tuned using debonair upgrade to 180mm front but I'm reading the luftkappe is the way to go.
Don't think there's much to do on the rear other than re-shim and volume tokens.
Why not give them a ring and tell em what y thinking, if y buy from them they'll be stripped and sorted for ya

 

[R120]

Yeah they are on my call list, just toying around with ideas at the moment. Be interesting to see if the 2019 comes with a coil.

 

[thebarber]

I was gonna put a post asking if anyone has experienced the luftkappe.

 

[R120]

I think there was some chat on the forum about it, but not in this thread

 

[R120]

So according to CRC they reckon a coil will foul the frame, so i have popped an email off to Vitus to see if a coil can be put on.

 

[Gary]

Why do you want a coil shock?

 

[Gary]

And why do you want more travel?

 

[Gary]

If you're blowing through travel and bottoming out too often you don't have enough pressure in the shock. Ie. You DON'T have sag set correctly at all.

 

[inwoods]

My switch units become temperamental, button presses only work 1 outta 10 times at best.

UPDATE: ordered the E6000 and its all back working nicely again the E6000 is a lot better too been able to cycle through the features with your thumb, CRC have refunded me the cost of the E6000 so Im happy about that.

Got a wolf tooth remote on the way to get rid of the cheap flimsy thing it came with.

My chain guard thing came loose and came apart while up at Lee quarry the other day, luckily I found it all, check your bolts.

 

[R120]

The sag is set correctly, I check the pressure regularly etc. Not so much blowing though travel as using more of it than I would expect. Interested to try a coil more than anything else

As for more travel, it’s only 10mm and I have another bike I can put the OEM forks on, or the 180mm on, so figured get the 180’s and see what they are like and can always switch back.

 

[Interpaul]

So lets talk about coil shocks - thinking of upgrading the suspension on the bike, not that i am unhappy with it, no complaints about the front end and have it set up and working how i want it, but never really nailed down the rear end, i have it set up now pretty well with correct sag etc but still find myself blowing through the full travel more often than not, never harshly bottoming out, but not quite how want it.

Thinking of making the move to a coil shock, probably a new Metric Super Deluxe coil.

Anyone else looked into a coil? Not going to deny that aesthetically a coil gets my juices flowing too.

A red 180mm Lyric RC2 may be on the shopping list too.

I put a Cane Creek DB inline Coil onto my Lapierre SX800 overvolt, I notice a huge difference and have not had a pedal strike since. I had a Fox Float DPS on the bike, put 250psi into and did all the Sag setting stuff but it is just undergunned for a heavy bike. I see a lot of new spec e-bikes are coming with Coil and many Enduro riders on conventional bikes are using the new gen coils.

The handling of my bike is considerably improved, I have never really liked any of the Air Shocks I have had but have ridden bikes with the Monarch Plus and though that was decent compared to the Fox Float DPS.

 

[Gary]

The sag is set correctly, I check the pressure regularly etc. Not so much blowing though travel as using more of it than I would expect. Interested to try a coil more than anything else

As for more travel, it’s only 10mm and I have another bike I can put the OEM forks on, or the 180mm on, so figured get the 180’s and see what they are like and can always switch back.

You shouldn't need to check your shock pressure regularly unless you either
A change weight a lot
B Carry huge packs
C have a faulty shock
What do you mean your sag is set correctly? How can it be if you're using too much travel?

Sag is simply a measure of how deep into the travel the shock sits at rest with the rider onboard. it doesn't take into account leverage curve at all. So there's no correct percentage. The correct amount of sag is actually what you can run and NOT blow through the travel or bottom out too often but still keeping the bike active and using all the travel when needed. Guides that state you should be running 30% etc. are bollocks. eg. (not that settings would necessarily be the same for you) but I run 27% rear sag and the two bands fitted from new and it's supportive, progressive, uses all the travel but never bottoms out harshly ever.

Talking of leverage curve. Most air sprung bikes frames should have been designed with a leverage curve taking into account the progressiveness of an air shock. therefore aren't actually all ideal to run a (linear) coil spring. The E-Sommet is progressive but not hugely.
I'd happily fit a coil shock to my Capra as it has a mega progressive LC and would still remain playful with a coil. My E-Sommet. Not so much.

Coil shocks aren't always an improvement over air.

If you can afford to make all those changes just because you're interested in seeing how it goes. Great.. Otherwise I'd think very carefully about what you want the bike to handle like. Depending on where you live/ride supportive/progressive mid travel suspension is often far more appropriate than linear long travel suspension. I suppose I'm spoilt in this respect as I have 2 uncompromised 200mm coil sprung dedicated DH race bikes to use with uplifts. I'd hate my E-Sommet to handle like the DH bikes as I use it for every type of riding.

anyone thinking about using a Luftkappe in a 180mm Lyrik take time to read what Steve from Vorsprung said about what it does with regards to spring curve in a longer (180mm) travel fork.
TLR - I wouldn't run a Luftkappe in a 180mm Lyrik

 

[R120]

Thanks gary - Vitus have confirmed now that a coil won’t fit due to frame clearances, and pretty much reiterated what you have said in your post.

I check my pressure not because I think I need too but because I just do it on the front and back as part of the bigger clean/maintenace check I do from time to time.

 

[Gary]

Thanks gary - Vitus have confirmed now that a coil won’t fit due to frame clearances, and pretty much reiterated what you have said in your post.
.

Hehe

Despite being a gobshite, I generally do actually know what I'm on about.

I check my pressure not because I think I need too but because I just do it on the front and back as part of the bigger clean/maintenace check I do from time to time

I assume you know that the shock/fork loses a little pressure every time you connect a shock pump?
Sounds a bit of a faff/PITA doing it often. I generally only check mine if one of the above (A,B,C) things is going on while riding. or after (well during I suppose) a service but I'd add
D something wasn't right while riding (if grip, balance, dive, compression, bottom out resistance seemed off)
E If I haven't ridden the bike for a while

 

[thebarber]

As mentioned above, I also thought about the debonair upgrade to 180mm.
Mainly because I seemed to blow thru the mid stroke too easily.
I put 3 tokens in to compensate this but but read about the luftkappe holding up better at this stage so I'm happy with170mm if this does the job.
I

 

[Gary]

You know I run NO tokens in either of my 170mm Lyriks?
and neither fork blows through the midstroke.
I absolutely hate fork dive

 

[thebarber]

Well I'm back to 2 now cos I can't feel my hands on the ruff stuff.

 

[Gary]

I find it really odd everyone who wants a coil (linear) seems to be running a shit load of (progression) spacers in their air suspension.
I know tokens allow the initial stroke to be run softer. But I don't really like a fork to feel overly soft even in the beginning stroke of it's travel. Maybe it's an old hang up from dirt jumping or DHing when fork dampers were a bit more basic but I like stiff and linear forks. (generally I run a rate up coil in my DH forks) and just accept the slight reduction in small bump compliance for improved support. Run like this I also find the harder I ride the better the fork works.
It's not like we have any rough descents over about 3 minutes in the UK so rarely ever get sore hands. Even Ft William WC track the rough part is only the middle 3 mins.

Are you getting arm pump or just sore hands?

 

[thebarber]

Sore hands, I'm not after coil btw.
I'm happy with the rockshox f&r but if I can make em better I will.
I'll try less sag and see if that helps.

 

[StuE]

Bike ready for a long weekend in the Lakes

 

[thebarber]

Enjoy!
Whereabouts are y goin?

 

[StuE]

Enjoy!
Whereabouts are y goin?

Staying at YHA in Ambleside, mates stag weekend

 

[peteh80]

I definitely need those Mudguards and tool straps for mine, they look the biz for winter!

 

[Gary]

Bike ready for a long weekend in the Lakes

 

[mark.ai]

Bike ready for a long weekend in the Lakes View attachment 5052

I like your solution for the cover behind rear shock