It's our Bike of the Year but should you buy the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road bike at 30% discount?

The Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road bike – the road.cc Recommends Bike of the Year 2023/24 – is listed at £3,299.99 on Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles (CRC) right now, 30% off full RRP; with the well-publicised commercial turmoil at WiggleCRC, should you buy it?

> Check out our review of the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road

Although originally French, the Vitus brand was revived by CRC in 2011 and it has belonged to WiggleCRC since 2016. The quality of the Vitus range has been high over recent years, and the value on offer has been exceptional, with the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road being our current Bike of the Year and the Vitus Venon EVO-GR Rival AXS having finished third in our Gravel and Adventure Bikes category.

> We unveil the road.cc Recommends Bike of the Year 2023/24

Both are available on Wiggle and CRC at knockdown prices. Should you take the opportunity to buy one?

Wiggle is still operating, although industry sources say that it’s now running on a skeleton staff and winding down. There are strong rumours swirling around, notably that Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has bought WiggleCRC’s brand and intellectual property for less than £10 million, although that has yet to be officially confirmed. According to insiders, the remaining staff don’t know about plans for the business as a whole or the future, if any, for Vitus.

The Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road that was £4,699.99 is now listed on both Wiggle and CRC for £3,299.99.

This is the first time that a road.cc Recommends Bike of the Year – and, indeed, the whole brand and team behind it – has been in a position like this barely weeks after winning our top award. And, we should stress, there's no suggestion that any fault lies with the Vitus team or the quality of the bikes.

When it comes to our road.cc Recommends awards, we focus solely on the products and their prices. We don’t consider the finances of the companies behind them. It would be harsh – and pretty much impossible – to penalise a bike because of commercial concerns, so we don’t do that. Of course, we knew when we awarded our gong that the future of WiggleCRC – and therefore Vitus – was uncertain, but we weren’t going to switch our opinions of the bikes based on that.

Naturally, everyone is hugely saddened by the lost jobs and the huge stress for the Vitus team, but where does this leave the road.cc Recommends Bike of the Year 2023/24?

Should we re-allocate the award? Nah, we can’t change history. Plus, as mentioned, you can still buy the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road… for the time being, at least. Although Wiggle and CRC are showing ‘low stock’, this model is listed on both sites in sizes from small to XL.

The Vitus Venon EVO-GR Rival AXS (above), which came third in the Gravel and Adventure Bikes category of the road.cc Recommends Bike of the Year 2023/24, is a bargain price too – £1,599.99, compared with the original price of £2,999.99 – but it’s available only in sizes XL and XXL. 

At the time of writing, the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Ultegra Di2 Aero All-Road Bike is available in sizes from medium upwards for £2,999.99, 32% off, while most other bikes in the range are available only in limited size options.

Is it sensible to buy from WiggleCRC right now? That’s your shout, but, as mentioned, the company is still operating, albeit on a hugely reduced scale. As long as you’re based in the UK, Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey, you can make an order.

If you pay by credit card, your purchase is protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

You could buy via PayPal.

“[Our] Buyer Protection programme entitles you to reimbursement for the full purchase price of the item plus the original shipping costs you paid, if any, when you don't receive your item from a seller,” says PayPal.

What about the wisdom of buying a bike from a brand that, for the time being at least, exists in name only, given that the team behind it has gone?

Most of the components that Vitus uses on its bikes are from well-known brands like Shimano, SRAM, FSA, and Michelin. There’s nothing unusual there. Replacing those parts when they wear out isn’t going to be a problem.

Other components come from WiggleCRC-owned Prime. Even if spares aren’t available in future, you won’t have much trouble swapping most of these for products from other brands. Although the Vitus ZX-1 road bike has an aero-profile seatpost, the Venon EVO-RS and Venon EVO-GR use standard 27.2mm diameter posts, and there are countless options available. You might want to buy stuff like a spare headset top cap, just in case.

What about warranty? This is where things get complicated and unclear. When you buy a product, your contract is with the retailer rather than the manufacturer. If Vitus no longer exists in the future, buyers would still have their contract with WiggleCRC – as long as WiggleCRC remains.

Wiggle's terms and conditions were updated following the making of an Administration Order on 24th October 2023. You can check them out in full here.

WiggleCRC was acquired by Signa Sports United in December 2021. If Frasers Group buys (or has bought) WiggleCRC’s brand and intellectual property – as widely reported – this isn't the same as buying the company. There's no guarantee that any sale agreement will include servicing the warranties. 

On the other hand, if new ownership of WiggleCRC is in place, any transaction you make now would be with the new owners, so statutory rights in terms of guarantee would apply.

We’ve contacted the administrators for clarity on this matter, but we have yet to receive a reply.