My turbulant 10 year love affair with my French beauty ends

After 10 years my 1980's Vitus has given up the ghost like so many before her...

Oh well I bought her as a complete bike for £100 so I guess she has done well. Just wish I had'nt spent the money on the respray the other year....
I will be holding a memorial service for here at lunch time. If you could all observe a minutes silence before eating your sandwiches, potnoodles or soup that would be great.

i'll be eating a pitta. does it still apply? the rules are ambiguous on this point

;.........(

Bummer. I have gone through something similar recently my mtb of 13 years is cracked at the headtube :(

How did you realise the tube was coming away from the gusset? Dont fancy finding out at speed! Looks a nice bike too, ive always liked the Vitus/Alans.

this pack of noodles is for you buddy!

Looks like she's had a good life. and ten years on a bonded frame is good going

I'll remeber the silence before i eat my M & S Sushi

Typical frenchie always giving up after years of support and nurturing.

Bummer. I have gone through something similar recently my mtb of 13 years is cracked at the headtube :(

How did you realise the tube was coming away from the gusset? Dont fancy finding out at speed! Looks a nice bike too, ive always liked the Vitus/Alans.

Luckily I had just come out of an underpass and I slowed for the corner, as I came out of the saddle to give it some up a hill everything felt a bit weird and squishy I looked down to see my pedal hit the floor then realised the bonding had broken and the tubes were no longer conected. Que a large handful of brake and a quick stop and dismount before looking on in horror...

The frame is probably the best part of 20 years old and most of them only lasted around 5 years so its no big suprise. Also I am a big old unit. I dont think pushing a large fixed gear helps...

Nooo, I loved the look of that frame! Guess this means you won't be making the ride tonight?

Looks like an internal lug, and it's just slipped off. Simple to repair / rebraze.

get it rebounded. i beleive vitus will rebound it if they're still going. if not it can be rebounded using aerospace grade glue and a jig to put the tube and lugs under compression.

I remeber a couple of boys in the cub I was in had Vitus's. This was late 80s' early 90's. I always coveted them. One was green the other purple, they looked the buisness!

They are Duralinox arent they? Is it all aluminium?

As said above if it can be repaired without breaking the bank I would go for it. Its a nice looking frame.

Unless youve had enough and fancy something else that is! :)

get it rebounded. i beleive vitus will rebound it if they're still going. if not it can be rebounded using aerospace grade glue and a jig to put the tube and lugs under compression.

a few bits of gaff tape should sort it.

I remeber a couple of boys in the cub I was in

Looks like your top tube also got bent.

**Platini: **:)

thats replaceable too. :)
just one of the many joys of riding a lugged bike

pfft, just get out the araldite.

The picture doesnt really show the full extent of how bad the top tube is. It bent around the internal cable routing... So I think it is time for a new frame... Anyone got a 58 or 60 frame for sale... Or anybody want any of the parts.. Nice set of new Vitus forks with a 30cm steerer...

Sadly does mean I will miss the Cambridge meet tonight again. I am going to see Rick at lunch though, see what he has in his shed..

The picture doesnt really show the full extent of how bad the top tube is. It bent around the internal cable routing... So I think it is time for a new frame... Anyone got a 58 or 60 frame for sale... Or anybody want any of the parts.. Nice set of new Vitus forks with a 30cm steerer...

Sadly does mean I will miss the Cambridge meet tonight again. I am going to see Rick at lunch though, see what he has in his shed..

If you want to keep it 80s, my boss is selling this. Would probably be London collection though.

repair it yourself, just for the sake of seeing if it works.

its getting scrapped anyway right?

Was it a 979 Vitus ? I had the same problem but where the seat tube connects to the bottom bracket. I was told it was because I was too heavy (fat) for the frame.

I have found a guy who does repairs on these things but he is in Vancouver Canada . I think the cost of the service is reasonable, shipping the frame over and back probably isn't.
http://www.guywires.com/vitusmain.htm