Vitus Frameset

Simonb said:

Found this Vitus frameset (1990) on eBay -- anyone know anything about
these? I've heard things about the bondings separating, how common are such
failures?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7105692579

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Stan Cox

Stan Cox said:

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Is the floppiness as a result of the bonding going?

Simonb said:

Stan Cox said:

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Is the floppiness as a result of the bonding going?

Simon
More just a case of loss of rigidity through use. the frame would
still be stuck well enough. Just nowhere near as fun to ride.

Stan Cox

Stan Cox said:

More just a case of loss of rigidity through use. the frame would
still be stuck well enough. Just nowhere near as fun to ride.

Oh dear. A bit of a lemon then.

Simonb said:

Stan Cox said:

More just a case of loss of rigidity through use. the frame would
still be stuck well enough. Just nowhere near as fun to ride.

Oh dear. A bit of a lemon then.

I would definately not go that far. When new they were a bloody good
racing frame for the first couple of years after purchase. I would not
base any decision just on my say so but listen to other peoples
opinions as well.

Stan Cox

"Stan Cox" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Simonb said:

Stan Cox said:

More just a case of loss of rigidity through use. the frame would
still be stuck well enough. Just nowhere near as fun to ride.

Oh dear. A bit of a lemon then.

I would definately not go that far. When new they were a bloody good
racing frame for the first couple of years after purchase. I would not
base any decision just on my say so but listen to other peoples opinions
as well.

I think that the "sloppy-after-two-years" thing was a bit of a myth. There
was an amusing story years ago about a team which was "re-equipped" after
it's riders complained about frames going mushy; the riders were really
pleased with their "new" frames, which were actually just the old ones
resprayed! Not actually about Vitus, but illustrates the point...

I used one of these, and found it a very tough, responsive frame. Very
light, although I personally preferred steel frames because of their
"springier" feel.

The frame in question is quite old, of course, and any frame of that age
*could* be suspect; however, at the current price I'd have thought it a good
buy.

Simonb said:

Found this Vitus frameset (1990) on eBay -- anyone know anything about
these? I've heard things about the bondings separating, how common are such
failures?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7105692579

I got a vitus in early 1986. After a few years nd after clocking up a reasonable mileage (I'd guess about 15,000+ miles per year) I had an un-nerving experience. I was competing in a swim tri and early on in the bike section (somewhat obviously) the bike went wobbly on me. I applied the brakes (coz this wobbly feeling was such that the bike wasn't ride-able) - big mistake - that only made it worse. Anyway I had to rely on natural slowing down while I looked for the safety of the grass verge. What had happened was the top tube had come apart in the glue joint with the head tube just above the gear levers. I tried re-glueing it back with the addition of a kevlar fibreglass sleeve - that lasted for another year or two before it came apart again. I didn't enjoy the prospect of a failure occuring at speed - like say on a fast downhill at 70-80kph. Other than that the Vitus was nice to ride.

Roger

Simon D said:

...I think that the "sloppy-after-two-years" thing was a bit of a myth. There
was an amusing story years ago about a team which was "re-equipped" after
it's riders complained about frames going mushy; the riders were really
pleased with their "new" frames, which were actually just the old ones
resprayed! Not actually about Vitus, but illustrates the point...

I used one of these, and found it a very tough, responsive frame. Very
light, although I personally preferred steel frames because of their
"springier" feel.

The frame in question is quite old, of course, and any frame of that age
*could* be suspect; however, at the current price I'd have thought it a good
buy.

I found my Vitus most definitely got sloppy (and I have no doubt about it).
The test I used to verify that it was indeed sloppy was to stand alongside the bike holding the seat with one hand and the bars with the other - put my foot on the crank at the bb axle apush to see how much lateral excursion could be generated - result heaps - and this was also done on other bikes like my original TI Raleigh, for comparison. A similar test was done while stationary, sitting on the bike and with the front brake applied and pushing down on the pedal observing the bottom bracket deflection. I found that the performance while cornering was not what I'd call confidence inspiring - particularly on a bumpy surface the sloppiness of the frame made me feel most uneasy about attempting to corner fast (I never liked criterium races anyway). The sloppiness seemed to me to make the bike handle unpredictably on bumpy corners.

I wouldn't buy another except as a museum piece.
Roger

Simonb said:

Found this Vitus frameset (1990) on eBay -- anyone know anything about
these? I've heard things about the bondings separating, how common are such
failures?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7105692579

Sean Kelly used to ride one of those. They're a bit "noodly" because
aluminium isn't very stiff in those tube diameters. For the same
reason, fatigue life is a lot shorter than a fat-tubed bike. Unless
it's hardly ever been ridden, I'd leave it.

"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Stan Cox said:

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Is the floppiness as a result of the bonding going?

The result of small diameter aluminium tubes IIRC, not good for fatigue
life.

Pete

RogerDodger said:

I found my Vitus most definitely got sloppy (and I have no doubt about
it).

How did it get sloppy?

Quoted message said:

The test I used to verify that it was indeed sloppy was to stand
alongside the bike holding the seat with one hand and the bars with
the other - put my foot on the crank at the bb axle apush to see how
much lateral excursion could be generated - result heaps

How did you compare it it how it was before?

~PB

Stan Cox said:

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Frames "going soft":
http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8e.5.html

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Stan Cox said:

IIRC they had reputation for going floppy as well. Shame I always
lusted after one.

Frames "going soft":
http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8e.5.html

~PB

Arrgh, my entire life is a lie 🙂 Vitus were making bonded thin tubes
alu bikes when everyone else couldnt. The percieved sloppiness could
well be due to the bonding. All I am doing is reporting several
friends experiences.

Stan Cox

Stan Cox said:

Arrgh, my entire life is a lie 🙂 Vitus were making bonded thin tubes
alu bikes when everyone else couldnt. The percieved sloppiness could
well be due to the bonding.

No, it's simply because aluminium is 1/3 as stiff as steel. Modern alu
frames have fat tubes to restore stiffness (and, just as importantly,
improve the fatigue life of the frame - alu doesn't like flexing).

Zog The Undeniable [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

and, just as importantly,
improve the fatigue life of the frame - alu doesn't like flexing.

Duck. Everybody run for cover. ;-)

Jon

Simonb said:

Found this Vitus frameset (1990) on eBay -- anyone know anything about
these? I've heard things about the bondings separating, how common are such
failures?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7105692579

I raced on a Vitus in 89 and 90 and it was a fabulous bike. Really
light and responsive, and great even for a non-climber like me seemed
good on the hills. I'm small though (50cm frame) and I'd say the
"floppy" comments tend to apply to bigger frames

Regards!
Stephen