macbethpoe

Hello, new poster on C&V, spent most of my time in SSFG thus far. Haven't had reason to post here until now. Anyway, vintage bikes are what got me into riding. I acquired an old Raleigh Super Record, '82 from what I can tell, and converted it to single speed. Ever since, I just can't get enough of vintage bikes. They are absolutely gorgeous, the frames, components, nostalgia associated with them, I love it all.

I had been wanting to get another old bike to really fix up. Well about a week ago, my wife's uncle asked if I wanted an old road bike he had, of course I accepted. He brought it up, and it is a Vitus Carbone Plus 3, at least that's what the decals said. It has the main triangle carbon tubes, with the chain/seat stays made of aluminum. I was very excited and greatful. So, I just wanted to start this thread as kind of a place to document my build of this bike, and thought it may come in handy for some people wanting to see these bikes.

Here is the first picture I took of the bike the day I received it. Side note, it may be from riding single speed for the past 6 months, but my god this thing is FAST! I have some detail shots I took before I disassembled it, and will post those tomorrow as I don't have access to them at this time. Thanks for reading my long winded post, and I hope this is entertaining/helpful to some!

shoota 

Man that's awesome. Please tell me you're not going to neuter it

macbethpoe

Hahaha, by neuter do you mean make it SS and do it no justice!? That would be a tragedy.

shoota 

Exactly

macbethpoe

Haha not that SS is bad or in poor taste, but it just wouldn't be right on this bike.

KvltBryce

You have been infected. This ^^ is the exact same thing that happened to me, except it was a '74 Raliegh Grand Prix.

Welcome to the better side of bikeforums.


Is the Carbone a Carbon/Alu build? We have a small little club of C&V'ers with Carbon.
Chombi has a Carbon Vitus, perhaps he'll chime in.

macbethpoe

Well thanks for the welcome. Yes the frame is carbon/alu, it is a bonded frame. The black tubes (top, down, and seat tube) are carbone, the rest of the bike is aluminum. For an early 80's bike, and honestly even by today standards, it is very light.

Chombi

I held back a bit from posting till I found out where the OP will be taking this build. As I cannot be too helpful with an SS/FG build as I do not own such configured bikes....
But I can certainly help out if it will be a "Tout French"/6 or 7 speed buildout like how my bike is set up:

The bike was originally equipped with a DA7400 group but the components turned out to be worn out enough to justify going for a full French component change out/build. Kind of an homage to the French manufacturers last gasp era in cycling....

I'll be glad to help with any questions you might have on the Vitus Carbones mcbethpoe! Build away! Can't wait to see how your bike turns out!

Chombi

macbethpoe

Chombi - wow, that bike is absolutely stunning! Very nice job, it looks like you have the Mavic rear DE, I love the look of those things! I appreciate your offer for help very much! Right now, I am torn. The bike came with Campy Super Record from what I can tell, brakes, levers, cranks, and front derailler. The Shifter and rear derailler are Shimano 600 SIS. My conundrum, is whether or not to leave as is, or go all SR, but make the switch to friction. Any thoughts?

Chombi

If you feel that this bike would be really significant to you and your stable, I'd go ahead and push the envelope and build it to full Super Record specs. You are into it in a big way already, just with the beautiful SR crankset (BTW, check for any cracks on the spider/crankarm juctions), and it will be just a matter of what your budget will support to build it up. Doing a "U" turn to do an all French build would just be as expensive in the end as you would want the top of the line stuff which are fast approaching Super Record-like cost anyway.
You can also take the gradual approach and just change things as you can so you can buy the SR stuff at the lowest prices you can find when they do come up and it will at least keep the bike rideable.
Shimano DA7400 and 600 group was pretty much the default for most Vitus 979 and Carbone framesets back then as they were the best quality and worked so well, but doing a full Euro group build on a Vitus frame just feels more special to me personally as it is not the "norm", but more of the "exception"....

Chombi

macbethpoe

I think this is exactly what I'm going to do, aside from hubs, all I need are shifters and a rear derailler to have a full group, as it has the headset already as well. With the amount of labor I am putting into this bike, I want it to be near perfect. And this is my first vintage build, and feel it will have a lot of sentimental value in the end. But for now, the 600 setup works just fine. Thanks chombi, I hope to have my detail shots up today of all the components and stuff.

macbethpoe

A little later than I had hoped to post these, but here are the shots of the bike and components pre disassembly.

https://s1335.photobucket.com/user/Ma...tml?sort=3&o=0

So this is what the bike looked like when I received it, not too bad, some of the components are pretty rough. The crank especially has some pretty deep gauges in it where it got hit or something, but no stress cracks (thanks for the heads of chombi). I am nearly done with the restoration, it's taken a lot of hours, and trips to the hardware store. This is my first time doing this, and have been totally winging it, but it's been such a blast, already want a new project!

Chombi

Thanks for posting the pics!
Wow!, the bike looks to be in very good condition (the decals look close to perfect, which is a rare thing tio find on these Vitus bikes!) with just a quick general cleanup needed on it. Looks like it was originally all Campy SR on it and someone just took of the rear derailleur. No problem, cause there's never a shortage of SR rear derailleurs for sale at places like eBay. You just had to atch out for the best buys on them. The good thing too is that the bike has the later version of the 23mm (very hard to find) Rubis/Vitus seatpost that has an expanding quill instead of the pinch "grub screw" on the frame. The quill type post is a cleaner and more secure (IMO) system. Like all used Rubis seatposts used on the Carbones, the one on your bike seems to be losing it's black painted accents painted on the flutes and the clamp areas. I just went ahead and removed the black paint on mine (note that the two small clamp pieces are not painted, but anodized. I left those black/as-is on my seatpost) and improved the overall finish by polishing it. I figured I can alway re-paint those areas if I want to in the futre, but I actually like it without the paint.
Do check all the lug/tube joints carefully to see if the bonds are still OK. Look for any signs of separation and corrosion. These bikes do not like to be ridden in the wet too much as moisture can cause corrosion between the CF tubes and the aluminum lugs that will break down the bonding epoxy between them. Corrosion usually shows up as black stains and small tendrill on the edge of the lugs. Your frame seems to be OK from what I see in the pics but it is good to check closely. Also check if your stem is not seized in the steerer tube. Mine was stuck like crazy when I got my bike and took almost a month of hard work to get it off the fork. The pedals look to be later replacements of what might have been Campy SR quills. With proper clips and straps it looks like they can work OK especially if you don't wear cycling shoes when you ride, but new French Look Keo clipless pedals are nice updates that I usually do on my C&V bikes and they will look like a "natural" choice on the Vitus bikes.
Even thoug it looks like you can just do a surface clean on the bike, I'd still take it all apart down to the last component (including the headset and BB) so that you can find and catch any corrosion that might be starting on the frame and avoid any problems with components seizing on the bike. It will also be easier to clean up the dirt and corrosion on the components themselves.
Keep us posted on the progress of your VC3 and welcome to the club!

Chombi

macbethpoe

Thank you so much chombi for all your feed back and input, I really appreciate it as this is my first, and it's been a learning experience! As of now, the bike is completely disassembled, and so far everything is in great shape! I have not seen any signs of corrosion or really any issues yet. And, probably because I'm new to this, I went MUCH further than a surface cleaning. And the decals really weren't in that great of shape, I mean, for 30 + years they were, but I saw one with no decals and really liked it, so decals are off and it's getting a nice new clear coat this weekend, and will be nice and shiny! The seat post is so odd! I have never heard of one like it, only thing I don't like is adjustment is a pain! As of now, I am torn between taking the black paint off like yours, or just touching the paint up. Anyway, I will post some more pictures of what I have done so far. The clear coat that was on the rear aluminum triangle was starting to peal, so I decided to strip it and shine the bare aluminum ( HUGE job!). The cranks have also been stripped of their anodizing, and also polished (another huge job). And all the other parts have been thoroughly cleaned and polished. I would say I have 30+ hours into it so far in the past week or so. I really can't wait to see it all back together, pics of how it sits possibly tonight!

Chombi

You can always re-decal the bike if you want to but the decals proprietary to Carbones are pretty much unobtainium these days. That's why sometimes having as much as of the original decals on the frame as possible can affect the value of the bike quite a bit, if you ever decide to sell it. Easy enough if you have the resources to make repros of the decals, but unless you have the originals available to copy, it won't be that easy to do. If you might still have at least the Vitus Carbone tubing decal near the shif lever bosses, try to save that one as that's the hardest one to find if you can even find them..... I've been searching and searching for Carbone decals all over the net for almost three years now for spares and possibly to refresh the ones on my bike...but no dice so far......
BTW, my Carbone is painted in the factory with satin black paint as standard. Only the later Carbones had a clear coat finish that showed off their CF tubing weave. I believe that your Carbone was also painted with satin black paint too as standard. The "weave" in these early Carbones weren't really directional or in a hatch pattern like you see in later CF bikes, so there's not much to really see under that paint. If you do strip the paint off, you might have to refinish the tubes in clear to protect them. I think the paint also helps to protect the CF tubing's resin from UV degradation.....so it would be best to keep it as-is painted. The good thing is, any scratches on the black paint is very easy to touch up. a full repaint will also be easy for any owner to do themselves if one ever wants to do so.

Chombi

macbethpoe

Yeah the decals are impossible to find, I did track down a sketch someone made to take to a sticker maker, if you want it. But the only real decals I can find are not specific to the carbones. And I wasn't going to strip the paint, but now you have me wondering, is there a clear coat on the bikes that you know of? I would imagine there is right? But would like to know for sure, any insight would be greatly appreciated. As my plan was to just scuff the existing clear coat up (if there is one) and then spray a new clear.

Chombi

The black painted CF tubes did not have a clear coat over them. I'm sure it's just satin black paint over the CF resin surface. I don't think there's even primer under the paint. I think they did not polish the resin surface of the CF tubes so that the paint stuck to it. As for the aluminum rear traingle on your bike, I always thought that the aluminum tubing was clear anodized not clear coat painted, just as on the all aluminum Vitus 979 frames. If it is clear anodized, there is a possiblity that some corrosion got under the clear anodizing if it looks like the finish on your bike is failing. Not really a big deal but more of an aesthetic issue. I don't think there's really a way to re-anodize the frame but you can opt to strip off the anodizing and polish the aluminum to get rid of any corrosion on it instead. After polishing, you can put a protective resin coating over it so it will be protected from corrosion. Check out clear resin metal coating products like "Everbrite" (You should be able to google it) They sell small trail kits just enough for bike projects for reasonable prices. Motorcycle and car hobbyists use it to coat their poslished aluminum wheels with supposedly very good results. Good thing about the clear resin coating is it supposed to be easy to renew the clear resin finish if you have to in the future.

Chombi

macbethpoe

Thanks again for all the help, I really appreciate it. Looks like I have some more thinking to do, the components are all finished and cleaned and serviced, so now all that's left is the frame and fork, so hopefully this weekend I can finish it! I will try to get some more pictures up of what I have so far. And thanks again man, HUGE help!

macbethpoe

Alright, just wanted to post an update picture, I'm about 80% done with the build, and sanding now haunts my every thought, and I STILL have some to do haha. Anyway, this picture is after paint, and clear coat. I am letting it cure now then I will sand out the slight orange peel texture I got. Painting it was very nerve racking, but I have always wanted to learn. And as you can see, most the parts are done, just have to sand/polish the cranks and chain wheels. Thanks for looking!

macbethpoe

And a couple without the masking, wanted an up close so you could see the orange peel. For my first paint job ever, I am pretty happy with it, I know the improvements I need to make for next time too, cause as I'm sure all you know, there will be a next time

QuangVuong

Looks good for a first timer. What paint did you use though?

You can refer to my lugged carbon build threads here.

qcpmsame 

That is going to be another beautiful early carbon frame build Macbethpoe. You mentioned that the crank had some gouges on it and that they aren't too bad, in your pictures the left crank arm looks like it has either two gouges or cracks, one on each side, at the attachment opening (next to the dust cover, sorry for being clumsy with the part's nomenclature.) I'd just check these so you don't get a rude surprise when you ride the beautiful bike it will be,. I sincerely hope I am wrong about the cracks.

Bill

macbethpoe

Thank you Bill! And yes the gouges on the crank arm were luckil just that, I have sanded them down to remove the anodization, and hopefully end up with a "mirror" type finish like I have seen with these often. But while sanding, I was able to take the marks down significantly, and now it is mostly smooth where they were, with no cracks apparent. Thanks again for the kind words, I can't wait to see it finished.

macbethpoe

Well as chombi alerted me to the fact that these originally came with a satin finish, with no clear, I purchased Rustoleum black satin, scuffed the original paint up, and sprayed the new satin right over the old. Then I used Spray Max 2K Clear Coat, this is a two part urethane in a aerosol can, and is no joke, I had to use a rispirator, eye protection, nitrile gloves and be sure no skin was exposed.

macbethpoe

Hey so I finally, FINALLY finished the crankset, easily the most difficult part of this bike. If you are considering removing anodizing off one of these, seriously reconsider lol. Anyway, kind of difficult to get a good picture with my phone, but they shine pretty nicely.