VITUS

THE ALL-NEW MYTHIQUE

The Mythique quickly established itself as an all-round favourite. The solid aluminium frame dressed with proven and upgradable parts won fans worldwide. Delivering such noteworthy trail performance, yet all the while being positioned as the perfect bike to get you started.

What a bike to hit the trails for the first time with though. The original Mythique was exceptionally capable, consistently performing above its station. It delivered a feeling of ease, seemingly possessing a hardwired power for reading the trail that boosted rider confidence with its capability and control, so every trail felt like a new favourite. You know it, we’ve all got a favourite trail. That flow. Those turns. The techy section that always ramps up the heartbeat a little. Every rise, fall, and bend. The Mythique ignites that same ride quality and emotion, no matter where you’re riding. A bike that has always been, and always will be, about the fun.

AWARD-WINNING PLATFORM

It’s not bullish to talk about a bike that’s “good everywhere”. About the consistent performance along the whole track from a bike that calmly stitched together the technical sections with balance and poise. That’s just how people have always talked about the Mythique. It wasn’t our label, but the people out there riding.

And the recognition was not limited to our passionate Vitus owners:

• PinkBike $2,000 field trip winner – The value trail bike defined Value MTB Bike of the Year Winner – PinkBike
• “From the very first pedal stroke, the Vitus Mythique 27 VR felt purposeful and poised. The riding position, sizing and geometry are totally dialled, so you feel perfectly balanced between the contact patches of the tyres.” 9/10 – MBR
• Best trail bikes you can buy list 4.5/5 – Bike Radar
• Pocket-friendly and easily upgradeable, the Vitus Mythique is a solid performer and a fun ride – it’s a bargain of a trail 29er – off.road.cc
• A regular in buyer guide lists across MBUK, MBR and BikeRadar

Still, the praise has always been diluted somewhat by an underlying tone of well-intentioned but less flattering feedback, like “workhorse”, “trustworthy” and “solid”. Kinda positive, but not exactly inspiring or exciting.

Still dependable. Now even more capable.

THE NEW MYTHIQUE PLATFORM

Calling upon the extensive experience and performance research gained from developing the award-winning Escarpe and Sommet, the All-New Mythique brings new and upgraded performance to the Vitus aluminium trail-riding platform. No longer just a bike to “get you started”. This is now a genuine contender. A bike with broader appeal. Retaining that familiar Mythique composure but with a revised geometry that boosts rider capability across a wider variety of terrain and trails.

If it was so good before, why have we made changes? The Mythique shouldn’t be a bike that people outgrow rather grow with. The familiar confidence-inspiring qualities of trust and control that are synonymous with the Mythique still remain, while now also catering to more experienced riders who want a modern trail bike that can push them a little harder, and explore a deeper trail network. These changes further enhance the core attributes of a trail bike that has been developed to perform everywhere – to climb, flow, and descend.

WHAT’S NEW

Side-by-side the changes are clear to see. Upfront, the head tube is 0.5 degrees slacker (66 to 65.5 degrees with a 140mm fork), promoting more control across a wider variety of terrain, in particular when things become steeper and more technical. This is balanced out with a revised 1.5 degree steeper effective seat tube angle (76 degrees to 77.5 on a 29” with 140mm fork), reflecting the change in reach and positioning the rider further over the bottom bracket for more efficient climbing.

REACH
We don’t believe in reserving features for top-end models. In particular, when it comes to geometry – if it can benefit everyone’s riding, then it’s worth doing at every price point. Once more, we looked closely at the Sommet and Escarpe and tweaked the geometry accordingly so that the Mythique is much more responsive on the climbs. You won’t feel slouched and sluggish over the rear of the bike.

SLAM THE DROPPER
You asked. We listened. The new Mythique can now accommodate a full dropper insertion across all sizes, so you can maximize movement and get the weight right back when the trail falls away.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Nothing sucks the fun out of riding quite like mountain bike industry standards and jargon. The Mythique aims to keep it real. This includes:

• A Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH)
• Externally routed cables for easy access and maintenance
• Boost 148 rear wheel size
• Commonly available 44mm upper and 56mm lower headset bearings
• Threaded bottom bracket
• Shared, proven hardware with the Escarpe and Sommet
• Increasing sensitivity, a highly durable trunnion mount upper shock replaces the current DU Bushing

THE TECHNICAL DATA

The Mythique was already exceptional at maintaining suspension and braking performance under the stresses of being ridden aggressively. Through continued refinement of the horst link suspension, we have been able to extract significant gains in kinematic performance to improve the behaviour of the bike on more technical trails.

ANTI-RISE

What is Anti-Rise?
How much the suspension is able to compress or extend when braking forces are applied, delivered as a percentage from 0-100%.

V3 update: The new Mythique demonstrates an anti-rise that is around 5% higher than the previous platform. This 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.

ANTI-SQUAT

What is anti-squat?
How much a bike is able to resist suspension compression during the transfer of load (typically rider weight) around the bike. Anti-squat counteracts the energy-sapping ‘bobbing’ sensation that can occur during the pedal cycle, helping to improve the acceleration and climbing performance of a bike.

V3 update: The V3 Mythique has close to 100% anti-squat in first gear, so it fights hard to limit pedal bob when spinning up the climbs. This appropriately drops to 80% to ensure that traction is still delivered to the rear wheel when you are stomping on the pedals in a bigger gear. And when the gradient then tilts south, chain tension won’t inhibit suspension movement, further reinforcing the Mythique’s all-round trail prowess.

ANTI-RISE

What is Leverage Ratio?
The distance that the rear wheel moves in relation to the distance that the shock moves throughout the suspension travel. This is what determines suspension progressivity – essentially how easy it is to compress the shock through each phase of the travel. A progressive bike means that initially, the friction in the suspension is easy to overcome and is therefore sensitive to bumps and rough terrain. As the suspension compresses further, the ratio between how much the wheel moves to how much the shock moves, reduces. In other words, the force required to compress the suspension becomes progressively higher.

V3 update: The V3 Mythique now uses a 185 x 55mm trunnion mount shock, which has increased the leverage ratio slightly. However, the leverage curve, and therefore progression (the difference in leverage ratio at the start of the travel compared to the finish point), remains very similar to the previous award-winning model at 22%.

2023 Mythique Geometry

THE 2023 LINEUP