I found this French made Vitus 992 locally and couldn’t resist it. It’s about 30 years old and in beautiful condition. My first road bike.
Vitus 992
- Thread starter crazydave58
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I remember those bikes from back then, full Campy Groupo, unobtainium, and cost a king's ransom. I'm not a roadie per se but these were sweeeeet bikes! Nice addition!..........md
I’m not a road bike guy either but it nice to try something out different from my usual stuff. I’ll probably learn a few things.
those are so flexy. Grab the seat and stem and push on the crank with your foot. You'll be shocked how much it bends. They were popular with triathletes more so than crit racers for that reason.
I have heard that. I have zero experience with road bikes. Ive only taken it for a short ride so far but I didnt notice anything unusual. I’m going to have to spend some time in the saddle to get a real feel for the ride of course.
I'm sure it's an enjoyable fast ride. You might only notice the flex when you're really giving it the beans going up hill or an all-out sprint. Have you weighed it? I'd be curious what it is. I'm going to guess 20 lbs.
I haven’t weighed it yet but it’s very light From what I’m used to. Probably 20-23 lbs
I too had always heard the 'flexy' reputation, but c. 1987 rode a friend's Vitus (a 979 I think, a slightly different iteration) up Mt Evans in CO, and was very pleasantly surprised at just how stiff it seemed and how well it rode under my 175-180 lbs. My only complaint was that it seemed a bit harsher riding than my Klein did with the very same wheels, and while not quite as stiff as that bike, was still very decent. OTOH, the Italian-made Alan (and the same frameset with Guerciotti branding) with similar "screwed and glued" construction but different kind of aluminum tubing, do deserve their reputation for being noodly imo, at least for most riders over 140 lbs or so.
Aluminum polished, new seatpost, threadless stem and riser stem added today.
Yep..but I prefer this setup .A roadie I’m NOT. I always hated drop bars.CD58, dont you know there are a lot of old roadies that are turning over in their "proverbial" graves at the sight of straight bars on a Vitus: I love it....looks good!........md....
I think that's a super appropriate thing to do with that bike. Looks great.
One position that's just right, with easy access to the control levers, beats the holy heck out of 4, 8 or 16 that are all in the wrong place. The most expert opinion --the one that matters- always belongs to whoever's doing the pedaling.
Looks great! Loads of "theft appeal," however.
Looks great! Loads of "theft appeal," however.
Flat bars on old school race bikes. I did that to this early (1991/1992) Trek 2100 bonded aluminum/carbon bike about 18 years ago. It makes the bike lighter for sure. This was a early model with the water bottle cage studs instead of blind nuts. No cages and it looks pretty tacky with those studs sticking up waiting to snag you or your clothing.
I found some vintage Kyokuto pedals for it.
