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Wednesday 26 October 2011

My Vitus Vee - 1 revew Part two.

Holyhellsticksonaplate I'm still here!

this is my little way of blogging about the bike and trying to ignore things happening with my nan passing away.recently (operation stop me doing illegally stupid things)

The problem is Operation Stop me doing illegally stupid things has a fail point. My Bike!

THE VITUS VEE ONE IS AN EVIL, TWO FACED MONSTER! *Clarkson voice* Oh yeahhhh baby!

The bike has shown me how the gears were being used poorly on Betsy my old, retired GT, but also how reliant I was on them too. This is my naughty bike and my daughters fun ride to school too.

(photo will be up soon - phone mmc has gone screwy - Meh, don't expect miracles)

The best part of it being Vee's ride to and from school is Naughty Bike Time! The bike has so far kept up with (sticking to the limit of 30mph. I have to respect the law too!) including an irate pair of police officers and anyone else who wants to take my babyVee on!
I get it to school and the sensible hat comes back to play.The kids all know Vee's dad as I ride the bike, even in the rain. (she likes sliding about somewhat)

Once Vee gets on though the attitude is dead set. no higher than 20kph (set to Kilometres to look better... he lies. I changed it's settings by mistake and the broadsheet manual is too confusing) she loves it and the lack of gears make it less clunky, which she hated on the old bike. Also in comparison, Arriva Bus 38/7 from Dunstable to Houghton Regis. Vs the bike on the same route. We arrived to our location in 13-16 mins (video being uploaded soon) the bus should have mirrored us, we beat it by 45 mins.  the GT did struggle, but has beaten the Arriva drivers on the 31 route a fair few times too (just me on the bike at that point, YES NAUGHTY TIME) A bike can beat a bus big time,

Now the bugbears.
Handlebars and grips are an opposing force, the grips hate me, Club Roost and much hairspray to the rescue here methinks, not to mention my DB flanges being rubbed down to snugly fit there new home. I need car scratching bars, too many loons like me on the road. Failing that I may upgrade the front bars to a DMR WingBar like on Betsy, as there lighter than the current bars, and I can get them in Purple. (my bikes have to stand out, not just for the cameras on them)

Drive Actually, the bottom bracket.
It's crap. Comes loose too quickly, I can only assume torque damaged on installation or inaccurately set torque on it's readjustment. service 2 coming up very soon :(

Wheels.
Front rim has had two spokes become dangerously loose within a week or three. that's probably an isolated issue and I've fixed that already
Although the rear was possibly not set up properly as it sounds like it needs adjustment, (at 400Km it's done well so far I'll say) Off to Bedford for that in the next week or two thanks to a recommendation from the father in law. Tim. You rock!

Niggles so far.
Apart from the above all i want to do is slap a 3 speed hub on it in the future.
Fit a rear child trailer for when the two girls both go to school,
My beast best pull like an old Volvo F12 of she's in trouble.

In short I love the bike and once tweaked up and setup properly it'll be awesome!

:Paul

4 comments:

  1. can you still say that you are happy with your vee1 I am thinking to buy one & change the peddles and grips does teh bike feel light ? i will use it on the flat in nice France

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  2. Hi John.

    The pedals are still going strong as is the noisy bottom bracket.
    (i'm replacing it in October) I do recommend replacing the grips. but the newer models have vitus branded grips which are apparently a lot better. I swapped mine to club roost's as they do slip easily (not good when turning and it slips off)

    the bike is 10/11 kg's and stupidly light compared to the similar priced GT aggressor xc3 i used to own.

    for flat it'll ride perfectly.

    paul

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  3. hi paul

    Thanks for your answer , so you would say that the bike is good value for money even thou you had to replace a few parts ?.... I ride an old releigh racing bike and never used a MTB but the cycle path in Nice isnt very smooth , so i saw the Vee1 and the reviews seemed good i am not sure if i should spend more and get more ?

    regards

    John

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  4. I can hand on heart tell you The Vitus Vee One is extremely good value for money.

    It's over a year old and has cost me £30 in retruing the back wheel, £10 to replace the front and back break pads (i do this every 6 months to a year) and £7 for club roost grips.

    compared to the GT which in a year alone cost me around £70 for new wheel, replacement bottom bracket, new chain and cassette and disk rotors.

    It also takes a lot of abuse on and off the road, as our roads where I live are as bad as the pathways and off road in some places. (i'm not the lightest build and it carries me well)

    I would suggest getting the Vee but keeping the Racing bike too. So you have the best of both worlds if you have the room to do so. But The price point of the Vee and the servicing costs so far make it a sure fire winner

    Hope that helps

    Paul

    P.S. Hope the weather is nice over in Nice.

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