Vitus Razor road bike review
At just £500 can this road bike really deliver for triathletes? Yes says Jack Sexty
Vitus is the in-house bike brand of online retail giants Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles (now part of the same company), and it’s renowned for quality bikes that are often the best value for money that you can buy on the web.
The Razor is true to its name: for a bike at this sub-£500 price point it’s race-ready and razor-sharp. It mimics the geometry of the Vitus Zenium carbon racer, which pretty much falls in between a sportive bike and a full-on aero race bike. The reach is longer than the other two bikes on test (38.6mm for a size medium), and coupled with a 74° seat angle and 15.7mm head tube, the Razor is a bike that we love to ride on the drops. The slightly steeper seat angle, longer reach and sharper handling make it ideal for bolting on tri-bars and getting your head down.
The groupset is Shimano’s entry-level 8-speed Claris, with a 50/34 compact chainset and 11-28t cassette that should see most of us up the steepest climbs (Shimano does offer 11-32t 8-speed cassettes if you decide you need an easier bailout gear). We found the Claris here to be largely reliable, although the front derailleur needed a bit more realigning than we’d been used to on Shimano’s more expensive groupsets. If you’re new to road riding you’ll feel spoilt with 16 gears but, in these times of 12-speed drivetrains, you might feel a few jumps if you’re used to higher-end groupsets that have more gears and smaller gaps between the cassette sprockets.
More to spend?
If you want to go up to a carbon frame and disc brakes, the Vitus Zenium Disc with Tiagra still comes in at a penny under that magic £1,000 mark. The Razor is the entry-level model in Vitus’ road bike range, so there are no cheaper options, but if you want to upgrade the components, a Vitus Razor VRX with Shimano Tiagra is £699.99
Verdict: Wiggle regularly drops prices of bike models before the end of the year, so if you can pick up the Razor for less than £500, you’ll be getting a phenomenal bargain, and you’ll have leftover cash to stick on some tri- bars to help you slash your bike-split time even further!
Contact : www.chainreactioncycles.com
Debbie Graham
Senior digital editor 
