Vitus 992 project

[zerogravitas]

Hey all, not a weenie build at all but I thought you might be interested in my ongoing Vitus project.

EDIT; finished it, scroll to the bottom on this page for more photos!



Final weight tbc.

Frame & Fork - Vitus 992 57cm
Headset - Mavic
Seatpost - K Alloy
Seat - Fizik Arione
Stem - Modolo Q Race 100mm
Bar - Modolo Q Race 42cm
Bartape - Merida
Bottle cages - Elite Ciussi
Cables - Jagwire Road pro
Brakes - Modolo X-Eras w/Kool Stop pads/Modolo QT-EXE levers
Front derailleur - Mavic 862
Rear derailleur - Mavic 840
Crankset - Mavic 631 172.5mm
Bottom Bracket - Mavic 610 URD 114mm
Chainrings - Mavic 53/41
Chain - KMC X9-SL 9 Speed
Shifters - Modolo Kronos friction
Cassette - Miche Primato 8 Speed
Wheels - Fir Super Rialto Grid
Hubs - PMP 8 speed Campagnolo
Tires - Veloflex Master 23
Pedals - Look Keo2 Max

I got interested in the idea of building up another semi-vintage frame a few months ago and fell down a rabbithole of geeky online bike research. I was originally intending to make up a nice light steel frame, however my eye was caught by something altogether different! The history of the lugged aluminium Alan and Vitus frames was fascinating, and their super clean aesthetic and elegant yet slightly industrial feel really did it for me.

There is a really excellent long article on the history of the Vitus 979 and this creative period in the French bike industry here for those interested; https://on-the-drops.blogspot.com/2016/ ... s-979.html

After much browsing of forums and some Ebay haggling I was the proud owner of this 57cm Vitus 992 frame. It had a few scuffs and lacked most of the decals but was a great candidate for an exciting build.



The 992 was a refinement to the technologies and build of the 979 - it features tapered ovalised tubing to stiffen the frame, a slimmed down aero headtube and beautiful Mavic headset that flows into the line of the forks.

My first thought was to build this up with 9-speed Campag Chorus or Record, but I decided to make it a little more interesting and whilst my build is still a Franco-Italian hybrid, it is perhaps a little more exotic. Hope you enjoy!

[kgt]

Enjoying it already !

[themidge]

Great to see another WW vitus which reminds me, I need to get mine sorted..

[schs]

Nice color curious to see your choice of components.

My 992 was build with Campa C-Record and Gipiemme Tecno 416 wheels.

[lone wheeler]

Looking forward to following this one.

I loved my white 979 with Mavic groupset ala Sean Kelly. One of my favorite memories, walking out of Harry Hall's in Manchester the day my Dad bought us matching frames.

[zerogravitas]

@schs, I really love your build, definitely part of the inspiration for this one. The Tecnos look very well on it too, I was after a set with yellow decals for mine at one stage!

My first milestone was stripping the frame, giving it a good clean and sorting a few small issues. I straightened the front derailleur hanger, cleaned the seat tube allen bolt and threading, and also took the surface rust off the steerer. The headset (a lovely piece of French engineering!) is in good nick and just needed a clean and fresh grease.







The details on the cast lugs are great, particularly the rear brake cable routing at the seat tube top and in the headtube.





I've then been spending some quality time with some wet and dry and my polishing mops to get the casting back to a decent appearance. I'm not going for a mirror polish, just a general smartening up! Note all these photos are pre-polishing.



My final prep task was removing the Mavic 610 bottom bracket, which was not in the excellent condition the seller had assured me it was! I found a suitable like-for-like replacement and fitted it; I don't have the Mavic tool so I drew up and 3D printed a pair of sockets that fit the outer lockrings.



They are just plastic so will degrade with repeated use but I can just print more up as required.
This bottom bracket is designed to fit into a BB shell with a 2mm chamfer cut into the threading, the cartridge part of it then just slides into the shell, and the locking rings screw onto the cartridge and have a matched chamfer that centers the assembly perfectly. All in all a very neat design, if rather heavy. The locking rings are both standard right-hand threads for the benefit of anyone interested (I was)!

Another excellent little history lesson here for those Mavic geeks amongst you; http://lecycleur.com/parts/mavic-bottom-bracket/

More tomorrow!

[schs]

... I'm not going for a mirror polish, just a general smartening up! Note all these photos are pre-polishing.

in the original the headtube was not mirror polish. Nice work, seems there was/is a lot of work to do. My frame was in very good shape, needed only a little treatment.

[bm0p700f]

Nice and in purple
Mavic did nice groupset parts. On mine I had to settle for mavic derailleur and the simplex shifters which got rebranded by mavic and the modolo brake levers which got rebranded by mavic. Mavic hubs from this era are decent too and they did the mr601 hubs with a freehub as well although these arrived in 1998. For period correct it would have to be 8 speed.

Sachs made the new success parts around this time.



I have never had much luck which polishing. It takes hours and I get bored with slow progress. How people can enjoy doing this is beyond me but I am glad they do.

[zerogravitas]

Nice and in purple
Mavic did nice groupset parts. On mine I had to settle for mavic derailleur and the simplex shifters which got rebranded by mavic and the modolo brake levers which got rebranded by mavic. Mavic hubs from this era are decent too and they did the mr601 hubs with a freehub as well although these arrived in 1998. For period correct it would have to be 8 speed.

Sachs made the new success parts around this time.



I have never had much luck which polishing. It takes hours and I get bored with slow progress. How people can enjoy doing this is beyond me but I am glad they do.

I have polished the crankset for this which took hours! The frame is looking pretty great, not mirror but very satisfactory.

Funny you mention the Modolo/Mavic connection. I've ended up going down a similar sounding route. All Mavic was very enticing but the brake levers and calipers are ludicrous prices. After reading how Modolo/Sachs produced the earlier brake models for Mavic I thought it seemed a pleasing and appropriate option to make a hybrid group up. So my current spec is Modolo brake levers, calipers and the Kronos downtube shifters, with Mavic front/rear derailler and the Starfish 631 crankset.



Hi-Tech.. In 1992 perhaps!



Kronos levers, rather plasticy but weigh next to nothing.



Mavic 840 RD, definitely not a weenie component with it's 3mm steel cage plates.



NOS Modolo X-Era calipers. It seems they sold these rebadged for years under many many different names. Does anyone know if there is actually a difference beyond graphics in the various models? These were mint condition but rather drab, so I have made some minor paint mods to fit them in with the frame a little better. Also these sintered pads looked like the most abrasive braking method ever designed so I've replaced them with Kool-Stop pads.



Modolo again, I think these are Q-series brake levers? Definitely appropriate for this 90s machine and a lovely shape. The plastic levers are faded so I've had to do a little restoration to bring them back to a satiny black since this image was taken.



After a lot of reading up on Modolo and looking at all the weird and wonderful components they've produced over the years I also thought it would be good to go all out, so I bought this crazy Q-Race CNCd stem off the bay as a.... conversation piece I guess?!



More tomorrow!

[kgt]

cool stem!

[jasonh]

Can’t wait for more
Awesome bike

[bm0p700f]

I have the same chainset waiting to go on but currently kine has a middleburn chainset.

Those shifters great. Very light. Those where the brake levers I mentioned, magic had them rebranded along with modolo brakes. I also use the same mech.

Tours is going to be nicer. I ga e up polishing mine. I need to get it out and ride it again.

[zerogravitas]

So, I liked the brakes but as I mentioned, decided they needed a little jazzing up. i wanted them to still look pretty stock though, so I masked off the maroon red flashes and sprayed them all yellow.





I also did the little alu dustcap for the stem as that anodized red wasn't matching anything else on the frame!

Of course, after doing this I went for replacement pads, so had to carefully push out the old ones, refit and then spray the yellow flash back on the new pads. All worth it in the end.

Kool-Stop's Modolo pads are the right shape for the this caliper style but a little tall, so I sanded them to size.





I'll leave you with a sneak preview of the wheelset for this build.

[zerogravitas]

Shiny things. The hours of polishing here drove me slightly mad.....

[zerogravitas]

Finished this labour of love.



Final weight tbc. Not super light with these wheels and that rear derailleur for sure, but not too porky either.

Frame & Fork - Vitus 992 57cm
Headset - Mavic
Seatpost - K Alloy
Seat - Fizik Arione
Stem - Modolo Q Race 100mm
Bar - Modolo Q Race 42cm
Bartape - Merida
Bottle cages - Elite Ciussi
Cables - Jagwire Road pro
Brakes - Modolo X-Eras w/Kool Stop pads/Modolo QT-EXE levers
Front derailleur - Mavic 862
Rear derailleur - Mavic 840
Crankset - Mavic 631 172.5mm
Bottom Bracket - Mavic 610 URD 114mm
Chainrings - Mavic 53/41
Chain - KMC X9-SL 9 Speed
Shifters - Modolo Kronos friction
Cassette - Miche Primato 8 Speed
Wheels - Fir Super Rialto Grid
Hubs - PMP 8 speed Campagnolo
Tires - Veloflex Master 23
Pedals - Look Keo2 Max

















Enjoy the pics!

I hope you like the French/Italian fusion I have going on too, it's been a super fun build with a lot of time spent choosing complimentary components. I've learnt a lot along the way and found a lot of admiration for these very cool glued frames. A 979 in blue would be quite a fun project next I think.