Originally Posted by
T-Mar
The graphics place this 1984 to 1987. However, it doesn't have the set screw for the seat post as used on the 1984 version or the pump paeg used in 1985 & 1987. Consequently, I believe this to be a 1985 model. The serial number will confirm the exact build date. According to extant literature, this model wasn't called the Mont Cenis until the 1986 model year. In 1985, it was known by its model number PSN 10 (USA) or PSV 10M (France).
Super Vitus 980 isn't as light as most cyclists believe it to be. This is because claimed weight published by Ateliers de la Rive does not include the head or steerer tubes. Still, it is a good grade tubeset, comparable to Columbus SL or Reynolds 531C. The down side is that Peugeot built it into frames using mass production workmanship standards.
If the picture depicts the bicycles the bicycle properly set up for the OP, I wouldn't consider the frame to be too large. If anything, I'd go one size larger.
I agree with T-Mar about the disappointing quality of the SV980 frames that Peugeot made in the mid 80's I had to go through two batch deliveries of PSV's in a Peugeot dealership, before I found mine with good brazing and lug prep quality. Otherwise, most of them either had gaps at the lugs where brazing materials was missing or brazing spatter under the paint or lugs that were filed uneven at the points crooked or severely blunted.
Being that the PSV was my dream bike back then, It was actually quite depressing going through all those bikes and finally finding just one good one that might have been the work of their best builder on the regular production line, which were evidently far and few.
and it wasn't the end of the story after I found what a thought was a good one, as after riding the bike two weeks, the head tube started to develop a bulge right at the front of the head tube, just above the lower head lug. The dealer took it back as a warranty claim and he was nice enough to go search for another well built example of the PSV for me to make it up for me. And he did, by calling the warehouse in NY to find me a good one. Looks just as well done as the first one. The dealer said that it was most likely built by the same guy at Peugeot. He thinks the first one had its head tube overheated during brazing or during heat treatment at Vitus which caused the head tube to be too ductile, causing it to start buckling from road shock.
IMO, Gitanes of the mid 80's and maybe Motobecanes too, were generally better built than Peugeots.