Vitus Mythique
Wheel Size: 27.5’’ and 29’’ versions available
Travel:
- Mythique VR: 130 mm rear / 130 mm front
- Mythique VRS, VRX, and AMP: 140 mm rear / 140 mm front
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 65.5°
- Seat tube angle: 77.5°
- Reach: 482 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay length: 435 mm (27.5’’) or 445 mm (29’’)
Frame material: Aluminum
Price: Complete bikes $1,700 to $2,600
Intro
Since its reinvention about a decade ago (the brand is nearly 100 years old but went bankrupt in the 2000s, and then was resurrected in 2011) Vitus has been known for offering no-nonsense bikes for exceptionally good prices, but their US presence was somewhat limited. That’s all changed today, with the opening of a new Salt Lake City-based US branch for their direct-to-consumer sales, and to go with that, Vitus has also launched an updated version of their Mythique Trail bike.
The Frame
The Mythique is meant to be a value-oriented Trail bike, and in keeping with that, it’s offered in an aluminum frame, only. (The most expensive build on the Mythique costs barely more than half the MSRP for a Yeti SB160 frame.) It’s a Horst-link frame, producing either 130 or 140 mm of rear wheel travel depending on the build (by way of different shock strokes), paired with a matching 130- or 140mm-travel fork.
Vitus offers separate 27.5’’ and 29’’ versions of the Mythique, but at least for now, the 29er is the only one available in the US. No matter the wheel size, the Mythique is pleasantly utilitarian in its feature set — cable routing is fully external, the bottom bracket shell is threaded, there’s a SRAM UDH derailleur hanger, and Vitus includes rubber protectors for the chainstay and downtube. The forward two tabs of a full set of ISCG-05 chainguide mounts are there if you want to run an upper guide, and there’s room for a water bottle inside the front triangle across the size range — no frills, but super functional.
Fit & Geometry
The Mythique is available in four sizes, Small through XL, which Vitus recommends for folks from 5’3’’ to 6’7’’ (160 to 201 cm) tall. All sizes get a 65.5° headtube angle and 77.5° seat tube angle, and 445 mm chainstays on the 29er, with shorter 435 mm ones on the 27.5’’ models. Reach ranges from 430 mm to 510 mm in roughly 25 mm increments, give or take a few.
[For the geometry chart above, “S” refers to “Standard” 130mm-travel models; the “L” numbers are for bikes spec’d with a “Longer” 140mm-travel fork.]
Those look like really nice numbers for a versatile all-rounder Trail bike — which is exactly how Vitus is positioning the Mythique. We’d expect it to be a well-rounded bike that’s trending a little bit toward the more nimble, sharp-handling end of the spectrum but will need to log some time on one to find out more.
The Builds
Vitus offers four builds on the Mythique; the top-tier Mythique AMP comes as a 29er only, but the other three can be had with your choice of wheel size in markets where the 27.5’’ models are on offer. The US only gets the 29ers for the time being. The throughline here is that the Mythique is very, very good value for money — the top-of-the-range Mythique AMP retails for just $2,600, and that gets you decent suspension, a mixed Shimano SLX/XT drivetrain, and so on. Even the entry-level Mythique VR gets you stuff like a dropper post for just $1,700.
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore 10-speed w/ Sunrace cassette
- Brakes: Shimano MT-401 two-piston w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: X-Fusion RC32
- Shock: X-Fusion O2 Pro R
- Wheels: WTB ST i30 rims on Vitus hubs
- Dropper Post: Brand-X Ascend (S: 100 mm; M: 125 mm; L–XL: 150 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore 11-speed w/ Sunrace cassette
- Brakes: Shimano MT-401 two-piston w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox 35 Silver TK
- Shock: RockShox Deluxe Select
- Wheels: WTB ST i30 rims on Vitus hubs
- Dropper Post: Brand-X Ascend (S: 100 mm; M: 125 mm; L–XL: 150 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore 12-speed w/ SLX rear derailleur
- Brakes: Shimano MT-501 two-piston or SRAM DB8 4-piston w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: Marzocchi Z2
- Shock: RockShox Deluxe Select
- Wheels: WTB ST i30 rims on Vitus hubs
- Dropper Post: Brand-X Ascend (S: 100 mm; M: 125 mm; L–XL: 150 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX 12-speed w/ XT rear derailleur
- Brakes: Shimano SLX two-piston or SRAM DB8 4-piston w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Pike Select RC
- Shock: RockShox Deluxe Select
- Wheels: WTB KOM Trail i30 rims on Vitus hubs
- Dropper Post: Brand-X Ascend (S: 100 mm; M: 125 mm; L–XL: 150 mm)
The Mythique VR gets 130 mm of travel at both ends; the other builds bump both ends up to 140 mm with a longer fork and longer stroke rear shock. All the builds apart from the top-shelf Mythique AMP get Maxxis High Roller Exo / Dual Compound tires at both ends; the AMP upgrades to a Schwalbe Magic Mary front / Hans Damph rear combo, both in SuperTrail / AddixSoft construction.
There’s nothing fancy about any of those builds, but they’re extremely good value for money, and the Mythique looks like a great way to get into a real, serious mountain bike for not a ton of cash. If we absolutely have to nitpick, the spec of the two-piston versions of various models of Shimano brakes across the range is a little disappointing on the higher-end models, but given how good the rest of the spec is, it’s hard to be too mad about that detail.
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The Mythique is unquestionably good value for money in terms of the parts spec, but will the frame be up to the job? On paper, it looks like it could be, but we’ve also been let down by a couple of the super-affordable direct-to-consumer frames we’ve been on recently (and been quite impressed by some others), so we’ll just have to find out.
(2) And how is the Mythique going to stack up against a few of the more promising affordable Trail bikes that have cropped up recently, such as the Norco Fluid FS?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The Vitus Mythique is a super-affordable Trail bike with a great parts spec for the money and a frame design that looks promising on paper. We’re working to line one up for review to see if it lives up to its promise and hope to have more to say on the matter soon.
Well, thanks for the excellent bike review. Since it is December 7th, would it not be a good time to post more ski reviews? Blister published 7 biking related articles in the first 7 days of December. Are there any more Ski/skiing related articles to expect? ;- ))
You can expect a *lot* of skiing articles in the near future. As always, it takes a few weeks for enough terrain to open for us to actually be able to begin gathering substantial information about all the products we’re testing, and as you know, we’re not into rushing things (up until a few days ago, all we had were low-angle green runs). However, we’ve already posted several ski and ski boot Flash Reviews, and will begin dropping weekly full ski reviews starting next week. And since the bike and trail running industries don’t hibernate during the Northern Hemisphere winter, we’ll continue rolling out articles and podcasts in those categories, too. Lots to look forward to!