Vitus first ride report
 

I took the Vitus Carbone 3 for the first ride after rebuilding it. This bike was given to my brother by a guy who used to race in the late 80's. It was too big for him so my brother passed it on to me. It didn't take much, new cables, new tubulars and a thorough cleaning. It has a mix of Campi and Mavic with Mavic GL 330, 36 spoke wheels. I went for a quick 20 miles with a little stint of 6% grade. This is my first ride on tubulars and I have to say I liked it. My regular ride is a Soma Smoothie with a Campi fork. With 120 PSI tire pressure, the Vitus/Mavic/tubular combo was much easier over the rough roads I train on. It has Superbe Pro 14x21 6 speed freewheel and 51x43 front rings. I have read comments about this bikes flexing but I didn't notice anything and I am 185#. It is more stable, standing up, than my Smoothie which tends to get a bit unstable with too much weight over the front wheel. The Mavic SSC rear derailleur is a bit noisy and takes some getting used to. It's aligned well according to my Park tool hanger adjuster. Seems to me the chain is a bit wide and the noise seems to be coming from the side plates running through the derailleur. I understand the chain is original but I may try a narrower one. Any suggestions? I can say those old style bars are a bit narrow for by big mitts. I'm looking forward to the next club ride in the Valley. When I ride in the mountains, this bike stays home as I miss my compact gears!
Eric

6% grade with a 43-21 can make for some strong legs. After 4 miles on a 6% at 42-24 my legs were not happy. And, yes, the tubulars do make it such a nicer ride. I use both SRAM PC-830 and PC-850 chains on my 6 spd bikes and they work quite well.

How about posting up some pics of your new ride!
What kind of chain are you running?
I run a regular width Sedisport silver chain on my Peugeot (6 speed) and a later model narrow Sedis SL chain on my Vitus Carbone (7 speed), both with Mavic "erector" derailleurs and they both run very quiet.
I agree about the plush ride. My Carbone 7 feels much more comfortable on bumpy roads than my Supervitus 980 tubed Peugeot PSV, which is already a plush riding bike itself. Both have tubular wheels too.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85 Vitus Plus Carbone 7

I see no photos, therefore I choose to believe this bike does not exist.

OK, I have dial up so thats why I'm not as free with pics as most. I will upload some shots soon.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=155960So Mr. Doubter, here you go! :)

Love this bike...hope you are still enjoying it.

I know this is an older thread, but since it's resurfaced, I have to ask: Are you sure it's a Carbone? I've never seen one painted white. It looks like a white aluminum 979 to me? Am I missing something?

I was thinking the same, but It could be that it was just painted white. IIRC, 979s have internal (aero) brake cable routing at the top tube. this one seems to have the typical plastic cable clips glued on the top tube for Carbones.
If anything, maybe this is a rare white version of the Carbone 3??
The early Carbones were black but they actually painted over the carbon tubes with stain black paint, as the CF did not have a nice woven pattern to show off like the later CF bikes did.

Chombi

Underneath the white paint is black material. Still riding this bike. Switched to Armidillos and had no flats yet.

Also, the very early 979s (79-80) did not have internal routing, they had surface clips.

Not alumninum under the paint, Looks like carbon to this mechanical engineer. :)