I’ll start by saying this isn’t the prettiest or most unusual bike you’ll see on this sub—but it has a story that I think makes it deserving of being here.
I love scouring eBay for frames that catch my eye, and the Vitus 979 was one of them.
These frames usually go for $400–500, but I managed to get mine for $80. Why? Because the seller tried to turn the vertical dropouts into horizontal ones. Why? I have absolutely no idea.
Once I got the frame, I went to work. I’ve always wanted a shiny silver frame, so I sanded off the pink anodization. It took a lot of elbow grease to get it to a proper shine. But with the dropouts in the condition they were in, the bike was basically unusable.
With the wheel pushed all the way in, the tire would rub against the back of the seat tube. So how to fix it?
I could’ve taken it to a welder and had material TIG welded back on, but that would’ve been $300 easy. The damage was also too extensive for something like Surly Monkey Nuts to work. So instead, I found some small metal discs to fill the gap and used JB Weld to bond everything into place. After that, I sanded and filed everything to restore the dropout shape. I finished it off with metallic paint, and it actually blends in really well.
I am happy to report the repair is holding up.
The bike is built with a Shimano Ultegra 6500 groupset, a Selle Italia LDY saddle, Sakai Randonneur bars, an Atax stem, a 3ttt seatpost, Velocity wheels with Ultegra hubs, and Michelin tires. I originally had a Campy Centaur 10-speed groupset on it, but the thumb shifters sat too far back to be comfortable for me unfortunately.
I also had to redesign the decals. I ended up creating custom die-cut vinyl decals that pay homage to the bike’s French roots.
Hope you enjoy!
by EmergencyMud4549