Vitus Venon EVO-RS wins Bike Radar/Cycling Plus 2023 Bike of the Year
Launching the brand-new Venon EVO is a huge deal for us at Vitus, but getting to launch the bike with accolades like “Bike of The Year” feels like an absolute dream.
The Vitus Venon EVO-RS Aero Force AXS all-road bike has been named the Bike Radar/Cycling Plus 2023 Bike of the Year and 2023 Road Bike of the Year, winning its titles from a pool of 25 bikes including some of the biggest names in the cycling industry.
We’re proud, honored, excited, overjoyed — you name it, any adjective probably applies. Most of all, we’re happy the Venon EVO is being recognized for what it is: a top-notch bicycle that smartly balances versatility and performance.
We can swoon over the Venon all day long, but in this case, we’ll let Bike Radar/Cycling Plus do the talking for us.
“It’s a bike that’s as good as any Endurance bike on the road, but it has versatility in its heart too,” Senior Techincal Editor, Warren Rossiter, wrote in their Bike of the Year piece on the Venon EVO-RS. “You can get huge 45c tyres into the frame and make it into a very capable and speedy gravel machine (in fact, Vitus is offering gravel builds at launch). Add mudguards and big-volume road tyres and make it a long-distance audaxer beyond compare. It’s light and has lively handling that brings that all-important smile factor to every ride, so it combines the sensible with the sensational.”
The Venon EVO-RS Aero is the road-spec iteration of our Venon EVO all-road bike. It and its sibling, the Venon EVO-GR, share the exact same frame but differ on components. The EVO-RS Aero comes stock with road tires and a road groupset, while the EVO-GR comes with gravel tires and a 1x gravel groupset. In either iteration, we envision the bike as a versatile option that’ll meet its riders match no matter the terrain.
It's a pick your poison kind of bike — are you more the type hungry for washboard and dust, or do you prefer big days pounding pavement? Or, with a second set of wheels you can have the best of both worlds. The choice is yours.
But, aside from recognizing the Venon EVO’s performance and versatility, we’re glad the editors at Bike Radar/Cycling Plus also saw the bike’s value.
At Vitus we hold near and dear the belief that a great bike shouldn’t require a second mortgage on your house. It’s a belief we inject into every bike we design and every spec choice we make. We think every rider deserves the best bike possible, and jacking up prices is simply counter to that spirit.
“During a cost-of-living crisis, Vitus needs to be applauded and celebrated for delivering value and fun alongside supreme quality and versatility,” Rossiter wrote. “And that’s why it’s romping to our Bike of the Year 2023 title, a first for the Northern Irish brand. A bright future awaits.”