The silver one on the lower right is number E059271. I believe it to be a very early one, because of the pinch bolt seat binder, Simplex/Spidel shifting, Stronglight A9 headset, Ofmega cranks/BB/pedals, really bad Weinmann brakes and levers, Ofmega Super Competizione hubs laced with double butted non-stainless spokes to Mavic Module E rims, CLB aluminum cable housing, and aluminum steerer (which did eventually break at the end of the threads and we replaced the fork with a later steel steerer Vitus fork). A real killer setup back in the early '80s. With the exception of the derailleurs and wire-bead tires, about the lightest you could get without making the components yourself!
Has English threading, and badging from Ets. FRAYSSE, apparently a brand that Mike Fraysse ran as the official importer of Vitus frames, based out of New Jersey. Not a lot of information out there about when Fraysse was importing them, but potentially he could be contacted to find what years he was importing Vituses badged with his own name.
Not sure when the aluminum steerer was phased out, but this is the only of our bikes with an aluminum steerer. The other bike with a pinch-bolt seat binder has a steel steerer IIRC. This is probably the earliest example of a Vitus 979 I have ever seen.
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.
Last edited by scarlson; 11-26-22 at 03:30 PM.