Vitus 979 frame as wall art (seat clamp crack)
10-30-22, 03:15 AM
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Vitus 979 frame as wall art (seat clamp crack)
As with the other complete Vitus bike I found on Ebay (https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-off-ebay.html) I got this frameset off Ebay but from France this time. I got it very cheap because it has a bad crack around the seat tube clamp area. I mainly bought this because it came with a fork which I might be able to use for another 979 frame that is on it's way to me from the UK. I received it in the post this morning and immediately took it to a welder friend. He confirmed that because of the bonded tube construction that the frame is just wall art. I.E. not repairable. I got this for 45 euros plus shipping from France where shipping the frame was more than the purchase price of the frame.
It has some stickers on it that say "Cycles Jacky Besson Romans" I did a little bit of research on this and this seems to have been a cycle shop in Romans Sur Isere in southern France.
Looks good from this photo but it's not really
See the sticker from Jacky Besson Romans
Sticker on the headtube is quite damaged so difficult to make out.
Vitus 979 sticker visible in this photo
More views of the Cycles Jacky Besson stickers here
See the crack in the seat post clamp
Cycles J Besson Romans
It has some stickers on it that say "Cycles Jacky Besson Romans" I did a little bit of research on this and this seems to have been a cycle shop in Romans Sur Isere in southern France.
Looks good from this photo but it's not really
See the sticker from Jacky Besson Romans
Sticker on the headtube is quite damaged so difficult to make out.
Vitus 979 sticker visible in this photo
More views of the Cycles Jacky Besson stickers here
See the crack in the seat post clamp
Cycles J Besson Romans
10-30-22, 04:38 AM
#2
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I wonder if it could be made safe to ride by bonding a then non-removable seat post or sleeve of appropriate length inside the seat tube
Last edited by sced; 10-30-22 at 04:45 AM.
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10-30-22, 05:39 AM
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Just sayin you kno……
Seriously yea I know this won’t really fix this but thought I’d have a bit of fun
Did you search around the forums? I thought there was a post about someone maybe even Vitus repairing them.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
10-30-22, 07:34 AM
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If caught early in the crack formation I have heard skill aluminum technicians can make a repair. Vitus used heat activated epoxy for the tube bonding from the aerospace industry in the late '80s and '90s but as suggested a seat tube bond might survive. My early Vitus with the grub screw seat clamp is the only aluminum frame I ever kept and love it to this day. I am not a threat to flex a bottom bracket and love the Vitus ride which was a surprise to me especially with an aluminum fork.
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10-30-22, 10:11 AM
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Internal-expanding seatpost to the rescue!
Many seatposts can be converted to a quill-style post, assuming that this frame's value and factor of safety are deemed good enough to bother making such a post for it.
Many seatposts can be converted to a quill-style post, assuming that this frame's value and factor of safety are deemed good enough to bother making such a post for it.
10-31-22, 04:51 AM
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Hmmm... Would the aluminum seat tube be strong enough to resist the pressure from the modified seatpost?
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