First Look: Vitus' All-New 2023 Mythique Trail Bike

Frame Details

While I was a fan of how well the previous Mthyique rode, the snooty side of me also thought it looked very much like the budget brawler that it was. Nothing wrong with that and performance should outweigh appearance, shouldn't it? But it certainly doesn't hurt that the latest version sports simpler and cleaner lines thanks to a different tube set, shapely rocker link, better pivot hardware and, thank the gods above, no odd hump in the top tube anymore.





The straight toptube provides a bunch more standover clearance for when things go wrong, and it also means that the massive seat tube gusset on the old bike is replaced with a smaller one. The seat tube is shorter, as you'd expect, but Vitus has also moved the main rocker link pivot out from the middle of the tube to just in front of it on a hydroformed extension. That's a notable update as you can now completely lower your dropper post, whereas the pivot was in the way on the old bike. The shock is now a metric trunnion mount, and the rear-end is held together with the same hardware as used on the pricier Escarpe and Sommet models.

Cables are routed externally, aside from where the dropper post line disappears into the bottom of the seat tube, and two ISCG tabs are used around the threaded bottom bracket. At the back of the bike, you'll find Boost 148mm spacing and a universal derailleur hanger.



Suspension Design

The Mythique's Horst Link layout has evolved a bit from the design we liked so much back in 2020, with Vitus saying they've added 5-percent anti-squat that, "prevents the bike from pitching under hard braking, remaining balanced and resisting excessive deviations from the true geometry, all the while enabling the suspension to remain active and responsive." There's close to 100-percent anti-squat in the lowest gear, but that's said to drop off to 80-percent as you shift down the cog to improve traction, and there's a similar 22-percent progression across the travel.

Vitus uses the same frame across the Mythique range, regardless of if it has 130mm or 140mm of travel, by speccing a 185mm x 50mm stroke trunion shock on the shorter travel bike (VR) and a 55mm stroke shock on the 140mm (VRS, VRX, AMP) versions. You'll find X-Fusion suspension on the lower-priced bikes, while RockShox and Marzocchi are used on the more expensive bikes.



Geometry

A new frame means new geometry, but there won't be any surprises here. Vitus took a bit off the front of the bike to have it sit at 65.5-degrees versus the previous bike's 66-degree head angle, while the seat tube gets much steeper to sit at an effective 77.5-degrees. Reach has grown, of course, with a large now being 487mm compared to 462mm for the bike we rode back in 2020. All the sizes have the same 435mm chainstays, and seat tubes are now shorter across the board; 410mm for a medium and 440mm for a large, with unobstructed insertion depth to boot.

Aside from reviewing the previous Mythique a couple of years ago and the Sentier hardtail, Kazimer also spent time on the 140mm Escarpe while Seb Stott rode the 170mm-travel Sommet. The general takeaway from all of those tests is that Vitus offers some pretty good performance for the money, so it'll be interesting to see how the new Mythique compares to other modern trail bikes when we review it in the new future. But not tomorrow, I swear.

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Reviews and Tech First Looks Trail Bikes Vitus Vitus Mythique