1984 Vitus 979
Part Diary, Part Technical Manual, Part Tips & Tricks

I always thought an all French bike would be pretty cool. Not that I’m a Francophile, but more of a MAVICphile. I also like Vitus bikes, probably because the bike shop owner that sold me my first road bike (the red Sirrus) in Lake Havasu, AZ rode a Vitus with aero handlebars and a rear disc wheel, it must have made quite an impression on me as a 17 year old.

Then the other day, I was riding with a couple of my buddies, so I’m yammering on about trying a slightly larger frame and wouldn’t it be great if I could get this NOS Vitus with full Mavic SSC gruppo that I saw, if only I had $1400 to blow. So later that night, I see an on craigslist, for a 54cm Vitus 979 with full Mavic gruppo! I jumped on this one pretty quick, I met the seller the next day, rode the bike for about 40 seconds and purchased the bike. Turns out the frame is a 56cm, so I got everything I was talking about the day before, all for a lot less money.

The seller tells me he built up this bike in 1984 when he worked at a bicycle shop in Truckee, CA. Shortly afterwards, he got into mountain biking, so this bike got very little mileage. From the looks of it, the bike is all original, except for the front wheel which appears to be NOS, as there is plenty of sidewall wear on the rear rim, but none on the front. Upon further research in the 1984-5 MAVIC Catalog, it appears that the bike was built with the top-of-the-line Special Service Course (SSC) 1000 ensemble, with the exception of the handlebars (MAVIC 350) and stem (MAVIC 360). So on March 1, 2010, I became the second owner of this pale blue Vitus.

6/2/2010 - Three months after I acquired the bike (and a house move later), I finally disassembled the bike, cleaned everything, and finished reassembled it. The frameset and gruppo cleaned up really nice, it almost looks NOS, much better than I had expected. A few changes, got rid of the ugly blue/white bar wrap and put on new black wrap. Replaced all cables and housing. In retro-spirit, I installed old style Kool Stop pads, instead of the modern Shimano pads that came with the bike. I also trued the rear wheel, adjusted the derailers and the brakes. When I was done, I weighed the bike; I was very surprised that a complete bike from the early 80s weighed less than 20 lbs. Now all I have to do is take some pictures, then I can lube the chain and go for a ride!

Here are the specs:

Frame: 1984 Vitus 979 Mk I, 56cm, blue. Serial Number: E067238. Vitus Duralinox (dur-able + al-uminum + inox-idable) 5086 aluminum alloy tubing, slip fit into aluminum lugs and bonded using a dry heat activated epoxy process derived from French aerospace company TVT. The main triangle is anodized. The Mk I frame is identified by the conventional seat binder bolt design, while the Mk II used a unique grub screw to secure the seatpost.
Fork: Vitus 979 Dural aluminum alloy fork, 1" threaded. Thermally bonded crown.
Front Rim: MAVIC MA40 with hard anodized finish, 32h.
Rear Rim: MAVIC G40 with hard anodized finish, 32h, 430g.
Hubs: MAVIC 556 RD with steel quick release, 32h, 126mm rear spacing for 6 or 7 speed, 236g front, 275g rear.
Tires: Michelin Carbon, 700x23c.
Freewheel: Suntour 7spd, 13-26T.
Cranks: MAVIC 630, 52x42, 170mm, 144 BCD (Old Campagnolo and NJS standard). Pedal tapping BSA 9/16 x 20F, 615g.
Bottom Bracket: MAVIC 612 RD, 116mm axle, 300g. This was an innovative design with chamfered sides that would attach to any frame, entirely independent of frame threading, kind of a precursor to BB30 but not proprietary.
Front Derailer: MAVIC 860 SSC, clamp-on, 100g.
Rear Derailer: MAVIC 851, same as 801 but with surface hardening on the link rods, 182g.
Shifters: MAVIC 820, anodized.
Derailer Cable Housing: Yokozuna 4mm, black.
Headset: MAVIC 310, anodized duraluminium. 311 is metric thread 25/100, 312 is BSA thread 25.4 x 24F, 102g.
Chain: Sachs.
Stem: 3T 1" quill, 120mm, forged aluminum.
Handlebar: 3T Superleggero, aluminum. 40.5cm wide, 10.7cm reach, 14.5cm drop.
Brakes: MAVIC Super Pro 430, hard anodized finish, 590g. These appear to be MODOLO Equipe brakes made for MAVIC.
Brake Pads: Kool Stop, The Continental, salmon compound. They look cool, work well, and the salmon color really sets off the brown hard anodized finish of the brakes. Besides, I didn't feel like spending over $30 for a set of old Modolo pads.
Brake Levers: MAVIC Super Pro 430, hard anodized finish. These appear to be MODOLO Equipe brake levers made for MAVIC.
Brake Cable Housing: Yokozuna 5mm, black.
Pedal: LOOK KeO Classic, black. Afterall, this is a bike for riding, the original MAVIC pedals are in a box.
Seatpost: Aluminum, 25.0mm x 180mm.
Saddle: Selle Italia Super Turbo, black, 372g.

The original bike weighed 20lb 9oz, the bike currently weighs 19 lbs 12 oz as shown.

The following are OE parts that I am currently not using:

Tires: Michelin Hi-Lite Supercomp H.D., 700 x 23C
Pedal: MAVIC 640, hard anodized Zicral 7075 aluminum alloy cage, 340g. BSA 9/16 x 20F thread.
Pedal Cages: Christophe, chrome plated.
Toestraps: Alfredo Binda, white leather.
Bottlecage: Specialized, aluminum.
Pump: Silca, chrome.