# Latest Refurb. Vitus 979



## Talewinds (Apr 22, 2014)

Here's a great vintage road bike I got from a customer recently. The bike just needed new decals, lots of TLC, and a better quality and matching seat, bars, stem. New cables and tape and she's good to go.
The Vitus 979 was the lightest road frame of its era and it won multiple sprinters jerseys at the our de France and won the Vuelta a Espana overall in 1988


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## Richardnew (Apr 27, 2014)

Beautiful. That bike is an inspiration.I just purchased a Vitus 979 frame. It's going to be a few months before I start my build so I'm thinking about components.





Here's my bike restoration blog. You can see I've gt too many projects going at one time. The Bianchi is my daily ride. The Raleigh should be done this week. Maybe.

Richard Newton


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## fat tire trader (Apr 29, 2014)

I have one too which I used to race a long time ago. It's black and has a mix of campy and shimano. I've been thinking about rebuilding it with all Mavic as a Sean Kelly tribute bike.


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## Richardnew (May 17, 2014)

I think the lead photos here answer my question. Am I correct to assume that you run the entire white cable through the top tube? In other words you don't strip the white sleeve off the cable?

Richard Newton


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## bulldog1935 (May 20, 2014)

really a gorgeous bike.  

Any reason you went with the modern compacts instead of the Cinelli 64 dream bars?


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## Richardnew (Jul 2, 2016)

I'm back finally. I've started my Vitus build. Here more information on my blog.


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## 37fleetwood (Jul 2, 2016)

I had a 979. they called them French Spaghetti. mine was way too small and spindly for me to ride, so I let it go. it was pretty much all original, except for the seat.


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## Richardnew (Jul 27, 2016)

That's a nice looking bike. 

I got my tires mounted the  other day. Now it's time for a crankset and a rear cassette. 

I would like to do Campy Chorus but I have no clue as to the appropriate gearing. Help!

btw - I ride in Florida - we have no hills.

Richard Newton


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## Richardnew (Jul 28, 2016)

I found a great shop in England. They're helping with all of this. It's a shop called Wiggle

I've pretty much decided on a Campy Chorus 11-25 for the rear.





They suggest that I use a 53/39 crankset with 172 crank length. I'm 5'10"  



 

Any thoughts on this combination?

Richard Newton


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## bulldog1935 (Jul 28, 2016)

Wiggle is great, bet I've spent a thousand dollars there - mostly tires. 

*No, that is a very bad combo.  Your two fastest gears would be too tall to ever be used - ever.  *

11-25t freewheel should go with a tiny compact double crank, like 46/30T.  (maybe 50/34T for going down steep hills)

53/39T crank, your smallest rear cog should be 13t.  13-25t, 13-26t would be perfect. 

So either look at a different crank or check out these pre-made Miche custom cassettes: 
http://www.probikeshop.com/en/us/ro...#t=41&typeSearch=1&manId=225&page=1&search=13


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## bulldog1935 (Jul 28, 2016)

something else to consider, you can usually load up on 20-naughties Campagnolo components on ebay, because new riders don't want them, and they're not old enough to be collectible.
My Moser has Chorus brakes removed from a (carbon) floor bike so they could upgrade it to just-newer skeleton brakes and make the floor bike look newer - brand new brakes, $60.
My Centaur crankset was NOS, $125.  They work perfectly on the 15-20-y-older frame
52/39T front, 13-26t rear.  8-sp Record cassette on C-record hubs.




I went 8-speed with friction shifters (late 80s C-record),  '94 Chorus RD, but it would be easy enough for you to match up brifters (if that's your choice) as long as you match Campagnolo number of rear cogs with the number of Campagnolo shifter speeds, and your Campagnolo RD is newer than about 1988.

Shimano is even easier to match up - shifters from '85 will work with current derailleurs and everything in between (everything except Dura Ace, which need to be matched by age).

Also, if you want to friction shift, 8- and 9-sp work just fine, and again if it's Campy, the friction shifters become critical - you'd need C-record shifters to get enough cable pull.




Again, only friction shifting, but if you go with Triomphe or older on your Campy RD, any friction shifter will work.


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## Richardnew (Jul 28, 2016)

I have friction shifters on my Raleigh. I enjoy shifting that way but i don't need 2 bikes with friction shifters.

Keep in mind that I'm riding in Florida and the largest elevation change on my ride is 11 ft. And, that is a bridge going over a canal. Texas must be similar. 

Keeping that in mind you're suggesting these two possibilities:

11-25  46/30
13-25  53/39

Am I following you correctly? 

Richard Newton


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## bulldog1935 (Jul 28, 2016)

yeah, that's basically right except for the part about Texas.
You will likely never use the 11t and 12t 130" and 120" gears unless  your're drafting a car.   Those gears are for 40-50 mph.
(I've done that going downhill on a 1200' drop, after climbing it of course - exceeded a 35 mph speed limit for over 4 miles and had a pickup truck following the whole way - I was on 108", the tallest gear on my Moser)




Gearing taller than 120" is for descending Donner Pass on a tandem

here's Sheldon's gear calculator

*You don't have any reason for a small chainring with no climbing to do, so no reason to have a gear below much 45", even in the worst headwind.  

So for sure you want the 53/39T crankset  
*
playing with the gear calculator, you could use a 12-23t cassette if you wanted a 116" fast gear in reserve.
*
All that said, if you're going 10 or 11 speed, you'll have enough gear choices and narrow steps that 11-25t cassette will probably do it for you with the crank as well.  

So I'll apologize for distracting you - you wouldn't be wasting anything with your original choices.  
I can also think of one advantage to the 11-25t cassette - you will never have a chain suck problem on your rear triangle - that tiny cog will prevent you from ever having the chain wedge between the small cog and the seat stay, which might happen with a 13t small cog.  *

I climb about 1000' or more every 20 mi here, but usualy not on a bike with that gearing.
I finish every ride with a 400' climb to my house.


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## froze (Aug 27, 2016)

Talewinds said:


> Here's a great vintage road bike I got from a customer recently. The bike just needed new decals, lots of TLC, and a better quality and matching seat, bars, stem. New cables and tape and she's good to go.
> The Vitus 979 was the lightest road frame of its era and it won multiple sprinters jerseys at the our de France and won the Vuelta a Espana overall in 1988




Very beautiful bike.  I had a friend that bought one new in the late 80's and broke it at the BB about 4 months after owning it, so Vitus gave him a new frame which he broke again at the BB, but Vitus gave him another which my friend never rode that one and it sat in the garage.  I did get to ride it once and it seemed unsettling noodly to me too, more so than Peugeot bikes.  My friend weighed at the time at around 240 pounds and was a pro bodybuilder but there was no rider weight limit at the time when they came out that was mentioned to him by the LBS.  I tried to buy that one off of him but he wouldn't sell it even though he never ride it, I just liked the looks of so much I really didn't care it was noodly, just ride it as a casual bike.  But if it means anything or not he also broke 3 Kliens and 2 Cannondales all at the BB, but those took a lot longer to break than the Vitus.


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