Vitus Venon road bike

Chain Reaction's Vitus Venon is a bit of a revelation. It's an inexpensive carbon build that is fun, stiff and surprisingly comfortable to ride over long distances. It comes with a pretty decent build kit too.

The Vitus had its inaugural ride at the Tour of Wessex which covers 107 miles with over 2000m climbing and it was raining a lot. My first choice of a titanium steed with disc brakes was now out of the equation and it fell upon the Venon to save the day.

Some entry level carbon frames can feel pretty dead and the thought of spending the best part of six hours on the Venon didn't appeal I must admit. Straight away though I noticed how easy the Venon was to ride with quick handling and a decent turn of speed. Maybe things weren't going to be quite as bad as I thought.

At the heart of the Venon is a T700 high modulus, uni-directional carbon fibre frameset with a curved top tube making for tight, compact geometry. It follows the tried and tested formula of a tapered head tube, oversized down tube and chunky chainstays for power delivery and stiffness while slimming everything else down for comfort.

The integrated headset is 1 1/8in at the top and 1.5in at the bottom to increase steering precision and that large lower bearing means a bigger surface at the bottom of the head tube to attach a bigger down tube. The fork used matches the frame material but also includes a carbon steerer, something that isn't often heard of at this price.

At the bottom bracket area Vitus have decided to stay away from press-fit systems and stick with tried and tested BSA threads. The sound you can hear is every mechanic in the country cheering.

For a bike designed for all day comfort the angles are pretty steep. The seat angle of 74.3° and head angle of 73° are more at home on a race bike rather than a sportive mile-muncher. The effective top tube of our 55cm is 551mm, with a 150mm head tube that gives a reach of 395mm and stack of 482mm.

The naked carbon with lacquered over decals gives a smart finish and the overall build quality looks pretty impressive.

Apart from an FSA Gossamer chainset the groupset is mostly Shimano's entry level 10-speed Tiagra. It's solid, reliable stuff, providing a good compromise of shifting and longevity.

The bars, stem and seatpost are all branded Vitus aluminium items which are pretty smart looking and do a decent job without really excelling. The bars are a compact style giving a shorter dimension to the drops than a more traditional set up.

The wheels are again Vitus branded with a 30mm deep semi aero rim and alloy hubs. They're pretty decent performers, with the machined braking surface getting the most out of the limited power of the Tektro brakes. They remained true throughout the test period and the bearings didn't grumble with all the wet weather they've seen. The Kenda tyres grip well and considering the number of riders fixing punctures on the Wessex, for them to get through without a single scratch is commendable.

The Venon is a very easy bike to ride for a frame with such steep angles. Things can get a bit skittish at those degrees but thanks to a slightly longer wheelbase the Vitus is sharp handling and precise with very little input, something I was very happy about when it came to descending in a group on wet roads.

Initial acceleration isn't the sharpest due to the heavyish wheels and an all up weight of 9.0kg (19.8lb) but once it's up and rolling it maintains speed well. When you hit a climb the 12-28 cassette certainly makes things easier. Paired with the 50/34 chainset it allows you to stay in the saddle spinning it out.

The Tiagra groupset performs pretty well and while it's not quite as snappy a shift as 105 you can still feel what's going on and there were very few missed shifts. Hopefully Shimano will eventually get round to running the cables under the bar tape as it does look so much cleaner and tidier.

Braking performance was acceptable from the Tektro R315 dual pivots but they lack serious bite and there is very little in the way of modulation. On the upside, the pads did perform better than expected in the wet.

Comfort was the biggest surprise from the Venon considering how stiff the frame feels but it really is quite a cosseting ride. Century rides were finished with barely any fatigue in the arms or hands and the stock Vitus saddle provided plenty of padding.

On the whole the Venon is much greater than the sum of its parts. While a quick look at the spec sheet might not show anything out of the ordinary for a bike of this price the ride is much more engaging than you would expect. It's ripe for upgrading too as the range-topping VRS uses the same frame with Ultegra 11-speed and Easton 70 wheels for £450 more.

The Venon is a smart looking bike too. The fact that Vitus have gone for a tapered headtube and a full carbon steerer means your money is in the frame. This isn't a bike where they've taken something a little less technically sophisticated and draped it in shiny kit.

Chain Reaction is currently selling the Venon for £759.99 and at that price it's an amazing bargain.

Verdict

Surprisingly comfortable mile muncher with a solid frame and finishing kit