Vitus E-Sommet VR

[davosaurusrex]

Re: the 140psi, at the risk of sounding American but I know, right? When I put the 2019 air spring in I pulled them apart 3 or 4 times checking everything was right, equalisation port not blocked with grease etc. I still can't see why I'm running pressure so much higher than RS recommendations and what others are running. Still need to verify my shock pump gauge but the other thing that doesn't add up is I need 140 for 25% sag but now got 30mm of unused travel. At 100 psi the O ring was against the crown all the time. Defo feel a lot better with more pressure either way though

 

[R120]

Around 100psi gets me to near enough 22/23% sag on the fork indicator on my 180mm RC2’s.

 

[Gary]

Anybody know what thread pitch the rear maxle on the E-som is?

Took mine out an hour ago... ooops

 

[Gary]

Around 100psi gets me to near enough 22/23% sag on the fork indicator on my 180mm RC2’s.

Should have said. The sag I quoted is also off the fork stanchion indicator.
It's useful for the individual to take a note of (and to some extent to compare to others with) but the thing is Lyriks read around 5-7% sag on that indicator when completely unladen.

 

[Jansurf77]

Just took my new one for a spin and it turned itself off mid ride on 4 occasions. Happened when going fairly hard downhill. Any advice on what to check? The battery seems a little harder to clip on on this one compared to my older sentier.

 

[R120]

I would just check all the connections, including those into the display and the motor

 

[Northumbrian]

Anybody know what thread pitch the rear maxle on the E-som is?

Took mine out an hour ago... ooops

Easy enough to measure.....

 

[Northumbrian]

Just took my new one for a spin and it turned itself off mid ride on 4 occasions. Happened when going fairly hard downhill. Any advice on what to check? The battery seems a little harder to clip on on this one compared to my older sentier.

Had same problem on my Sentier, adjusted the top battery fixing, sorted it. However it is a bit trial and error.

 

[Gary]

Easy enough to measure.....

Not when you're nowhere near the thing it isn't

 

[Tony P]

Just took my new one for a spin and it turned itself off mid ride on 4 occasions. Happened when going fairly hard downhill. Any advice on what to check? The battery seems a little harder to clip on on this one compared to my older sentier.

This happened to mine on its first proper ride a couple of weeks ago. I did the following 2 things which seemed to sort it as it didn’t cut out on the following ride-

1- checked all the connections to the motor/controller were tight. This involved removing the panel on the left side of the motor (3 screws), removing all of the collected debris/leaves, ensuring the connectors were ok - I removed and reconnected with the supplied Di2 tool, and then replacing the cover and taping over the edges so that no crap can get back in. I also checked the connections into the controller were pushed in correct

2 - I lowered the top battery mount slightly as the battery had a tiny bit of movement. This involved removing 2 screws from the cover and then loosening 2 so that you can slide down the mount - a bit fiddly but I found that it level with the bottom of the mount worked for me.

Good luck ?

 

[Tony P]

Has anyone with the new 2019 VR managed to connect theirs to E-Tube and been able to adjust the Trail and Boost assist levels?

 

[Tony P]

Been out on its second proper ride and really enjoying it.

Some observations

1. The previous cut-outs as previously reported appear to be resolved - see post above

2. Had a few pedal strikes - still need to dial in the suspension, and yes I know that I may need to adjust my riding style ?, but may need to consider shorter cranks

3. It’s a heavy beast when on the fast descents when exceeding 15mph and can be hard work/slower than my Tallboy - may need to look at peartune or equiv.

Re Peartune - assume it is the StillOn version I would need? Also assume that there’s no need to use the E-Tube app to set it us/use as at present I’m unable to connect the app.

Thanks for any help

 

[R120]

De restricting talk can be had here, its a controversial topic :

Deristricting

 

[thebarber]

Been there regarding peartune and highly recommend emax software.

 

[Jansurf77]

This happened to mine on its first proper ride a couple of weeks ago. I did the following 2 things which seemed to sort it as it didn’t cut out on the following ride-

1- checked all the connections to the motor/controller were tight. This involved removing the panel on the left side of the motor (3 screws), removing all of the collected debris/leaves, ensuring the connectors were ok - I removed and reconnected with the supplied Di2 tool, and then replacing the cover and taping over the edges so that no crap can get back in. I also checked the connections into the controller were pushed in correct

2 - I lowered the top battery mount slightly as the battery had a tiny bit of movement. This involved removing 2 screws from the cover and then loosening 2 so that you can slide down the mount - a bit fiddly but I found that it level with the bottom of the mount worked for me.

Good luck ?

Cheers, will give it a go.

 

[Kernow]

Those 3 conectors on top of the motor. Make sure they are well cleaned out inside then cover them with grease to seal them . I use silicone grease and layed it on with a small paintbrush.
Taping the top of the cover also seems to help stop,the water etc running in .

 

[Gary]

Following Kernow's advice I sealed my connectors and motor casing from water with black silicone bathroom sealant. think I used a wooden food skewer for getting it into the wee nooks and crannies and wiped off the excess before it fully dried. Haven't had a problem since.

 

[Kernow]

Following Kernow's advice I sealed my connectors and motor casing from water with black silicone bathroom sealant. think I used a wooden food skewer for getting it into the wee nooks and crannies and wiped off the excess before it fully dried. Haven't had a problem since.

That worked well Gary , until I had to return the motor , getting all the silicone off was a bit of a chore so I’ve gone back to grease and a more regular check .

 

[Jansurf77]

Cheers guys for all the advice. Will have a good look at it this weekend.

 

[Cisco]

Has anyone with the new 2019 VR managed to connect theirs to E-Tube and been able to adjust the Trail and Boost assist levels?

One of my riding buddies had this problem with his '19 bike. I gave him my old E800 mode selector switch to plug into the display and he was able to connect first try.
As noted elsewhere on here, seems Shimano have not updated firmware to recognise E700 controller and that's causing the issue.

 

[Tony P]

I like to have a spare mech hanger and found one at CRC but they’ve just cancelled the order as no longer in stock!

Can’t seem to find another - anyone got a link to where I can order from? 2019 VR

Cheers

 

[Polaris]

Been there regarding peartune and highly recommend emax software.

Badass 4 for me.. lovely.. just lovely

 

[Master Link]

I am still waiting for the next batch of 2019 bikes to arrive, but have been reading this and other posts. It would seem that those with experience of this bike have done several things to reduce failure / improve reliability. I could not find a post that covers this in one place so I'm going to start a new post called "Vitus e-Sommet - Tips and Tricks to reduce failure and improve reliability" to collate them all in one place for easier reference. Looking forward to everyone's contributions.

 

[Julio]

The Vitus looks remarkably similar to the Crossbow Bullet, by Vertigo. Although the Bullet looks to have a VPP style rear suspension, while the Sommet has a Horst link. CROSSBOW BULLET VON VERTIGO

 

[MattyB]

...Anyway this is what Vitus had to say about E Sommet VR stock:

"The stock is not held here with ourselves. This goes direct from the manufacturer out to the retailers. We are working hard to have more stock with our retailers in the early new year. However we do not have a confirmed date for this."

So there you go, Vitus don't touch the bikes at all, they go direct to CRC/Wiggle (Same thing and same place for bike stock) from where they are made (far east probably).

Really surprised they don't carry spares, I couldn't even get a replacement front triangle as Vitus don't carry them as that's the suppliers responsibility. Price you pay for buying like this I suppose.

Remember Vitus are just a house brand nowadays - they may have a history as a stand-alone company, but in reality this is true direct sales; CRC = Wiggle = Vitus. They are even directly co-located with CRC in Ireland:

Behind the Brand - Vitus | Articles » Issue 42

Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles officially announce merger - Cycling Weekly

 

[R120]

The Vitus looks remarkably similar to the Crossbow Bullet, by Vertigo. Although the Bullet looks to have a VPP style rear suspension, while the Sommet has a Horst link. CROSSBOW BULLET VON VERTIGO

The Vertigo uses the Astro Engineering frame, which is used by quite a few brands including Diamond Back and Willier - it is the "original" Shimano E8000 frame in the sense that it was the frame built to launch the system and used by Shimano on their launch bikes/press bikes when debuting the system.

Due to how the Shimao system, with external battery, needs to be integrated into the main triangle of the frame, you will see that many brands front triangles look similar. Merida, Vitus, Commencal, Ghost etc all have very similar front triangles for example, but the other elements vary.

If brands want to launch an ebike, but don't want to put money into R & D, then they often buy a stock frame off a frame builder and just brand it up.

Astro are on of the top frame manufacturers in Taiwan, and make the frames for Mondraker, Transition, Haibike and others.

 

[Kernow]

Interesting about manufacturers . The owner of a large local bike shop and spray dealer told me a few years ago that there are only 3 factories who actually make frames ,
Merida who also make specialised and others ,
giant the largest in the world who make frames for lots inc the best carbon , and one other he didn’t name I think they are all Far Eastern factories and most of the brands have their frames etc built to thier own spec . Look at vitus and nukeproof frames together I would bet they come from the same factory .
I notice a lot of the finishing kit used on vitus and nukeproof is the same that appears at amazing prices on thier website , like dt Swiss wheels , it was mavic wheels last year , and they were on lots vitus bikes then .
It’s good for the consumer , high spec at low prices compared to big brand names , and probably goes to show how much the big brand names must make on bikes with thier higher prices and lower spec .

 

[R120]

I heard form an industry source, that Canyon actually make more money selling on grey market parts (parts supplied direct to Bike Companies by components companies that are unboxed and used on the builds) than they do selling bikes.

Apparently Canyon are the biggest purchaser of Shimano parts worldwide, and a lot of the parts they don't use, get shifted on to the likes of CRC to be sold on.

The Fox Factory 36's I picked up from CRC are an example of this, I got them for £650, but they came in a generic CRC box with no spare tokens and only the generic manual.

 

[Gary]

I like to have a spare mech hanger and found one at CRC but they’ve just cancelled the order as no longer in stock!

They've all been bought by folk who didn't actually need one but wanted a spare just incase.

The owner of a large local bike shop and spray dealer told me a few years ago that there are only 3 factories who actually make frames ,

Nah... you've either misunderstood him or he's not explained that properly. There are far more smaller frame building factories manufacturing from various materials. eg. Reliable Taiwan Bike Frames Manufacturers and China Bicycle Frame Suppliers on B2BManufactures.com
But yes. Merida/Giant are the two largest manufacturers of high end frames.
And as R120 said Astro are pretty much top of the tree of the Taiwanese frame manufacturers. While managing a bike shop 20+ years ago I rode unbranded Astro/kinesis frames realising we could buy hardtail frames of the same manufacturing quality as the best frames from the top big brands for ~£50.

As above the Vitus and Nukeproof names were both acquired Vitus/Nukeproof by CRC (Now the CRC-Wiggle group) in much the same way Sports Direct now own Karrimor/Muddyfox etc. Only CRC have upped the game on both brands rather than manufacture as cheaply as possible and destroy them for profit like Sports Direct do. so it makes sense Vitus and NP would share the same/similar resources/manufacturers.

 

[Kernow]

They've all been bought by folk who didn't actually need one but wanted a spare just incase.

Nah... you've either misunderstood him or he's not explained that properly. There are far more smaller frame building factories manufacturing from various materials. eg. Reliable Taiwan Bike Frames Manufacturers and China Bicycle Frame Suppliers on B2BManufactures.com
But yes. Merida/Giant are the two largest manufacturers of high end frames.
And as R120 said Astro are pretty much top of the tree of the Taiwanese frame manufacturers. While managing a bike shop 20+ years ago I rode unbranded Astro/kinesis frames realising we could buy hardtail frames of the same manufacturing quality as the best frames from the top big brands for ~£50.

As above the Vitus and Nukeproof names were both acquired Vitus/Nukeproof by CRC (Now the CRC-Wiggle group) in much the same way Sports Direct now own Karrimor/Muddyfox etc. Only CRC have upped the game on both brands rather than manufacture as cheaply as possible and destroy them for profit like Sports Direct do. so it makes sense Vitus and NP would share the same/similar resources/manufacturers.

He was talking modern mass produced hydro formed alloy frames . No idea about other materials , I know there’s still a lot if titanium steel and carbon mix choices . I guess the initial set for those alloy frames must be quite expensive . Hence the large factories building to order in large numbers
talking of titanium frames I’ve had a hankering to build an all purpose titanium bike for a while . The Planet X frames look so tempting for the price and the spec reads ok but Iam just not sure , kinesis etc is way more than I want to spend