stumpjumper

Hello all. I just acquired an early 80's Vitus 979 frameset and fork in my size, and I'd like to dress it up in period components. I'm more familiar with early 70's late 60's period pieces and am not sure what would be appropriate for a frame of this caliber and age. I noticed it does have a Suntour Superbe Pro bottom bracker already installed (which I beleive is also early 80's) but beyond that, Im lost.

So, what wheels, h-bar/stem, drivetrain, etc should I be on the lookout for? Any Ideas where to look?

D*Alex

There is a guy selling classic SunTour stuff-check out the link in the "for sale" folder.
Other than that, eBay is just filled with old Dura Ace stuff cheap. A Vitus 979 would certainly be worth that...

lotek 

I like the Superbe components. If you can look for
the Superbe and not "superbe pro" (the later series
were not quite up to snuff so to speak). The Cyclone
line was nice also.
If you want fully japanese bike you would need
Araya rims, maybe Sun rims. SR stem and bars.
Since Vitus is the tubing do you know what marque the
frame is?

pokey

Think Vitus made bikes too.Ridden by Sean Kelly for one.All Campy might be more appropriate. I never heard that about superbe pro.But the names superbe and superbe pro came and went in the lneup.The superbe became superbe pro in 81,pro was dropped in 86 was reintroduced again 1994, and did not last long.Maybe the suntour stuff after 1990 when they were bought by Mori and the name became SR Suntour,was the sub par stuff?

D*Alex

Yes, Vitus made the bike, too. In fact, many, many years ago, the top-end Motobecane racing bikes were merely rebadges Vitus 979's. Vitus still makes these bikes, in France, and they are still one of the more popular road racing bikes in Europe.
https://www.vitus.fr

lotek 

mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa. . .

Totally missed the Vitus as manufacturer.

Pokey, I believe its the last iteration of Superbe Pro that
is poorer performer than the Superbe group.
(is it a velo-sin to use gruppo with japanese components?)

I've been thinking about this one tho, and have the
following suggestion:
French bike, French tubing, it follows that
the componentry should be french also,
so I'm officially changing my vote to MAVIC SSC group.
besides, I think Italian components on a French frame
cause all sorts of karmic events of a cataclysmic (sp?)
proportions, least of which is the components will fail
to work correctly.

Stumpjumper, be careful of the bosses for the downtube
shifters, I seem to remember they were a bit weird and
didn't accept all shifters (i.e. Dura Ace). I'll see what I can
dig up on that one.

Marty

D*Alex

If you can find them, Huret actually made some really nice lightweight derailleurs from the 60's thru the 70's. Most Hurets, though, were cr@p....

RareVos

What is 'group' in Japanese anyway? The Mavic SSC/801 group would be nice, but it would probably be easier to go Campy SR/NR. The Superbe stuff is lovely, especially the cranks and levers, I had a load of it on an older bike.

stumpjumper

Hmm, the campy components on my Gitane seem to work just fine..

I'll have to look into the Mavic components. The thought never evn crossed my mind!
Thanks