Vitus has released the Venon EVO, an all-road offering “built to blur the line between gravel and road”. It’s available in a range of road (RS) and gravel (GR) builds that utilise the same carbon frameset and take advantage of its 45mm tire clearance.
The previous Venon, a traditional endurance road bike, was discontinued in 2019. But the new EVO isn’t designed as a replacement. Rather Vitus has created an entirely new platform that it says “lands somewhere in the middle ” between a “full-bore road bike” and an “adventure gravel bike”. All-road? Gravel racer? ‘Groad’ bike? You get the gist.
Vitus Venon Frameset
(Image credit: Vitus)
Vitus prefers to describe it as a ‘chameleon’ and it’s the choice of components that define its particular camouflage, rather than the frameset. So how do you create a frame that’s versatile enough to handle both disciplines – road and gravel – without compromise?
Once a trend, many of the best road bikes now have wider tire clearances. In large part it happened due to the confluence of disc brakes and tubeless technology, with supporting data that wide tires can be just as fast while delivering greater comfort, the icing on the cake. Vitus has taken this accepted wisdom and run with it.
(Image credit: Vitus)
By blending the generous tire clearance with aerodynamic enhancements borrowed from its ZX-1 EVO race bike, such as integrated cables and drag-reducing tube shapes, it follows a similar pattern to many contemporary gravel race bikes, such as the Factor Ostro Gravel. And it doesn’t require any great leap of faith to imagine bikes such as these working efficiently on the road with a few component tweaks.
Rather than imagine the possibilities a frameset like this might deliver, Vitus has chosen to make it a reality. Alongside the ZX-1 EVO, it’s taken inspiration from its Vitesse EVO all-rounder, namely in the dropped seatstays and carbon layup, both of which are there to deliver compliance.
Throw in geometry that sits somewhere between the EVO road bikes and Vitus’ out-and-out gravel offering, the Substance, and you have a frame design that appears capable of changing colour at will, as promised.
(Image credit: Vitus)
As for some actual measurements, a size medium with an effective top tube length of 551mm blends a stack height of 560mm with a reach of 386.9mm. All frame sizes feature 420mm long chainstays. These numbers are unsurprising given the Venon’s remit and resemble those you’d…