jamesdak 

So, this winter I scored a "used" but new Ultegra 8000 groupset at a great price and went looking for a NOS frame to put it on. I came upon this one at an Italian site and after some negotiating I pulled the trigger. Hard to find info on it but I did find out it uses a rare 24.3 seatpost which the seller didn't have. But after taking my offer the seller then checked around and found another dealer with the seatpost. So, double score.

I really can't find much reference to these. I did find some catalog info from the mid 90's and the 1997 mentions yellow being an option. I've also seen 3 different versions on line of how the seat tube is done up top. Forward slot like mine, rear slot, and then rear slot with a typical binder seatpost setup.

There are no decals on this, it's all paint. No headbadge either which is cool but seems a bit strange. I dig the clean look of the stronglight headset, it's got roller bearings inside. I just don't know if they are good or not. The bike came with the original manual and the wrench for this headset. The rear is really tight on this. Dropped seatstays and short chainstays. There's only about 4mm of clearance right now between the Conti 4000s II 700 x 25 tires and the seattube.

The welding isn't the prettiest I've seen but hopefully it's strong. It appears to have some glues components to it like the front fork blades and the "removable" rear dropouts. There's also a replaceable RD hanger which to me is a plus on an aluminum frame. Speaking of that, it's a different than normal 5086 alloy. If you look closely you also see how the main tubes are bi-oriented for strength and ride quality I guess. I also like the cable braze-ons mounted to the headtube, nice touch. Built up like in the pics it's weighing a decent 19 lbs 7 ozs. The wheels are Reynold's carbon fiber 46's with DT Swiss 180 hubs. My first deeper wheels and only C.F. clinchers.

Now for some pics:

jamesdak 

And More:

nomadmax 

You always do it right

jamesdak 

Well, I did a little over 23 miles on it today to test it out. Unfortunately the winds were really bad so hard for me to judge it. I can say it was surprisingly comfortable. I really expected that tight rear end to kick me in the butt a lot on the road but it didn't happen. I did have some issues with the winds when they hit me broadsides, courtesy of the wheels. They felt plenty light and reactive though cutting into a headwind. Winds were too bad for me to ride hard through the Esses to judge grip and handling. That'll come soon.

texaspandj

Nicely Done. I like it a lot.

jamesdak 

By coicidence, I "stole" the pedals off the Ironman I got from you to test this one. Want to find some black Look Keo's with yellow highlights for permanent use on the Vitus.

eja_ bottecchia

Very nice!

jbchybridrider 

Sweet bike !! Properly setup and adjusted too.

repechage

No idea that Vitus marketed a mostly welded up frame. Interesting bike.

fietsbob

Not that C&V to my eye .. just not that old..


Ride on..

jamesdak 

Yep, me either until I stumbled on this. I know Vitus get a fair amount of attention here so I figured this was the best place to post it even though to many I'm sure it's not old enough to be C&V.

Best I can tell they were making them through the mid 90s. The 1997 Vitus catalog at Retrobike shows it still being for sale.

Chombi1 

Fantastic build.
Always been a fan of Vitus bikes as they are the quintessential 80's French bikes for me.
The Fabric saddle with the yellow base is icing on the cake! Very nice touch with the appropriate Vitus seatpost to really finish it off!

jamesdak 

Yeah, I lucked out with the saddle. Didn't know they ever did that color combo then saw it up for sale and grabbed it. It's a shallow instead of my preferred flat but hopefully I can ride it. I have one other shallow and some days it's fine and some days it's always telling me it's there.

jamesdak 

So, just a final update on this bike. Was having issues with the FD rubbing on the crankarm. The owner at the best LBS in Ogden (love The Bike Shoppe !) tweaked the FD hanger and got it all sorted out. My fitness has finally been coming back and I took this out on a calm morning for it's first real fast ride. One issue is that I really need bigger chainrings on it for how I like to ride. I was pretty much always down on the bottom 4 gears for the ride. It accelerated very well with little effort and responded well each time I dropped to a higher gear. I ran a 19.6 mph average on this one for my 25 mile route without working hard at it. Even though it does respond well it's not a harsh ride. I'm curious to get it into the mountains to see if it proves to be a good climber. Anyway, as a diehard steel lover I do believe this one has earned a permanent home with me. Oh, one sorta weird thing I noticed Sunday is quite a few small paint chips in it despite the few miles I put on it so far. Guess it's not that durable of a paint job.

jbchybridrider 

I know it would be a pain to dismantle the bike now but if the paints fragile I would give it a smooth coat of 2K clear with hardener using a quality spray gun. It'll look the ducks guts and keep the original paint protected.

jamesdak 

Well, feel like I need to report back on this after several climbing rides on it. First off it goes up like a mountain goat. Seriously good climber. Unfortunately, coming down is a different story. I'm thinking the bonded aluminum fork is a bad idea. I am not afraid of speed, in fact I love it it. I'll routinely descend on most my bikes into the 50 mph range. This thing is scary unstable in front when your approaching 30 mph. Even on the flats when riding at that speed for a mile or two the bike likes to jump around in the front. I'm thinking it need a better C.F. or even steel fork on it. This one must flex like crazy or something. More to come on that piece. Until then I'll just enjoy the super stable climbing and descending of my Y-Foil

shuru421

Nice looking bike, really like the outcome of your build. The wheels compliment it just right, makes me want a pair now..

Mistafishy

You say that the front fork might be causing instability. A bonded fork does sound sketchy now that I think about it. Have you tried a fork swap yet to feel the difference? Curious to know whether it improves.