Pete took delivery of this Vitus Dominer just in time for the toughest test of the year, the No Fuss Events Lowepro Endurance Downhill.
At £2,399 the Vitus Dominer isn’t exactly cheap … but looking at what you could spend on a downhill bike it’s certainly a lot more sensible.
With downhill bikes spiralling up to the £10k mark, the new breed of ‘budget’ DH’ers puts big, fast, rough descending into a more easy-to-reach place for most of us.
If you’re happy to ride a bike that isn’t quite World Cup spec then you can buy a very decent, very fun bike that you can ride and race straight out of the box with enough change for a season of racing. Or a trail bike. Or a very, very good holiday. Or just pay your mortgage. See my point?
Pete is currently razzing around on the Vitus Dominer – sold via Chain Reaction – and looking to see if the sub £3k sled is worth your cash.
Key features:
- 200mm travel.
- Horst Link with floating shock mount.
- 35.7lbs/16.2kg weight.
- 70mm travel rearward axle path.
- 27.5″ (650b) wheels.
- Shimano Zee groupset.
- £2,399.99 RRP
- VitusBikes.com
- Available at ChainReactionCycles (currently £2279.99)
Sighting laps.
From the off there was very little that felt odd or unusual about the Dominer. Even before tweaking the rebound and compression on fork and shock, the bike manualled and wheelied nicely, seeming happy to do what I told it to.
Fort William might not be the best place to test a bike that arrived only days before, but if the Dominer could come out swinging, then I’d know it was some machine. After a sighting lap, it seemed the dials on the shock were swung in the slow direction and speeding these up gave the bike an excellent lively feel to the rear.
Falling travel.
It took time to get my head around the falling rate of the initial travel, feeling like there’s no negative air spring pressure, but this allows the bike to track the ground much better as well as getting the back wheel out of the way of the rough stuff.
By lap two it was clear that the medium spring in the forks was far heavier than what I’d need usually, but with some tweaking of the BoXXer Team’s dials, the firmness of the front end kept me from flipping out the door more than once as the arms started to tire.
Sixteen thousand feet.
So how did the Dominer do?
Having not touched a downhill bike for a little while, I was slightly apprehensive about taking a brand new bike to a race as mad as the Endurance Downhill but the Dominer made me feel very much at home.
On a course like Fort William, the forks being too stiff were almost a blessing. A slightly softer spring I am sure will get the front end tracking better and me able to use the damping circuit more.
After nine runs and over 16,000ft of descending in just over four hours, the only complaint from the bike was the spokes on the rear had almost completely unwound themselves from the nipples. A quick wind up with the spoke key and a fresh tube was all it needed.
Other than that, the Dominer made my life easy. Other than the 9 minute run for a red flag, the laps were being smashed out in under 7 minutes, something I never managed last time around. Nothing odd or unsurprising happened, no strange bucking as the bike past its threshold, just a confidence-inspiring ride that meant I could concentrate on the task of just bashing out run after run.
Onwards and upwards.
I am very much looking forward to dialling more ‘normal’ settings into the Dominer’s suspension as the platform is something I very much enjoy riding on the Escarpe. There’s chat afoot of me going for a sub-6 minute run (my previous best is a 6:35) down Fort William, something I tried last time that ended in broken ribs and concussion. I think the Dominer is the bike to do it.
You can buy the Vitus Dominer for £2279.99 at Chain Reaction Cycles here.
