1986 Vitus 979 Duralinox Mk I

WHAT EXACTLY IS A VITUS "A LINE" FRAMESET:

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine and I were discussing all manner of things cycling related, when in the course of our rambling conversion he mentioned that he happened to have a 1984 Vitus 979 Duralinox frameset knocking about in search of a good home. Since I already happened to have on hand many individual components that would be well suited to a mid 1980’s "tout François" themed project, I seized upon the opportunity to negotiate an agreement that sent said Vitus my way. Soon after taking physical possession, I found myself carefully looking over the frameset in contemplation of just how to build it up and exactly what parts I lacked to achieve that end, when I noticed a marking on both sides of the seat tube about half way down from the top. At first, I thought these to be a vestigial ghost image from some decals that had once been affixed inasmuch as the frame was absent any and all manner of badging excepting those actual Vitus 979 tubing decals which could still be found above the shifter bosses on the down tube as well as on both sides of the front fork blades. Being ever the curious sort, I decided to look closer and make a concerted effort to determine just what the mysterious missing decals might have been. And that is when I came to discover that the faint images on either side of the seat tube were not remnants of some decal at all, but rather, a sort of watermark for lack of a better term, located underneath the surface of the anodized coating - and that each of these read in stylized form, "A Line".

Well, I promptly picked up the telephone to call my compatriot and query him as to the meaning of said marks, only to learn from my former LBS owner turned industry insider of a friend that he had once similarly questioned the distributor from whom he had purchased this very frameset back in 1984, whereupon he was told that Ateliers de la Rive maintained an in-house "Service Course" dedicated to the production of racing specific bicycles and that those Duralinox framesets which were the byproduct of this operation were built to a higher standard and more often than not to custom specification including such details as application explicit dimensions and frame angles, tailored chain stay lengths, steel reinforcement pins at strategic locations such as the bottom bracket for enhanced rigidity and durability, non-standard colors, et cetera - and that all of those frames were thereafter marked with the ever so subtle "A Line" graphic on both sides of their seat tube (...the "A" presumably being a double entendre reference to the Ateliers name itself as well as "top grade").

As you might well imagine, this intriguing bit of rumor sent me scurrying off to peruse that Vitus literature resident in my own reference library for further clues as to the background of that odd "A Line" designation. Unfortunately, I found no mention whatsoever. Moreover, a lengthy search of various internet musings and missives begot a similar void of knowledge or commentary on the subject. At this point, I openly invite anyone having further information regarding Ateliers de la Rive or Vitus "A Line" framesets that would either corroborate or debunk that information posited above to please forward their input to my public email address of rsb000 (at) hotmail (dot) com (...where those would be a trio of zeros and NOT a repetition of the letter "O"). Fact? Fiction? Fantasy? Falderal? Enquiring minds want to know....

WHEN IN DOUBT JUST OPT OUT / A CHANGE IN PLANS:

When it comes to restoration / refurbishing projects that I contemplate undertaking, whether they be furniture, firearms, automobiles, bicycles, or whatever, I am a firm believer in the medical maxim "primum non nocere", or in colloquial English, "first, do no harm". This is to say that given the existence of a problem, it may well be better to do nothing at all than to do something that would otherwise run the risk of causing more harm than good. Inasmuch as I have been unable thus far to determine the relative import / significance (...or lack of same) of those "A Line" designations and other peculiarities found on the Vitus 979 frameset acquired from my good friend, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the best course of action would be to simply set it aside pending further discovery rather than have some of my intended activities possibly compromise a potentially historical artifact. In its stead, I decided to procure yet another Vitus 979 to serve as temporary host to those French components I had set aside for this project. As a result, that which is depicted below could rightly be considered my "stunt double" Vitus to the extent that this frameset is merely a substitute for that which I had previously planned to build up - specifically, this new one having the (in)distinction of being not much different from any one of the other bazillion that were assembled en masse from 1979 all the way through the 1990’s.

MAINTAINING RIGID FLEXIBILITY / A VITUS 979 PRIMER:

Ateliers de la Rive (...which translates as "workshop by the river") has been involved in the production of high quality tubing for cycle builders since 1931. Based in an industrial region of the Loire Valley known as Saint Chamond near the confluence of the Gier and Janon rivers just northeast of Saint Etienne, some of their more notable offerings over the years have included the Rubis and Durifort brands of straight gage steel tubing as well as the premier Vitus and Super Vitus brands of seamless butted tubes constituted of high grade manganese-molybdenum alloyed steel. In 1979, Ateliers de la Rive entered into a joint arrangement with similarly French companies Bador and CLB-Angenieux to produce a revolutionary line of Duralinox bonded aluminum alloy cycling frames under the brand name Vitus (...which can be a bit confusing, because this same name had previously been associated with a specific line of steel tubing once offered by Ateliers de la Rive). Without getting into all of the gory details with respect to later Duralinox models including the 787, 797, and 992, the original 979 frameset consisted of 5086 aluminum alloy tubes that were interference or slip-fit into aluminum lugs and then bonded into place using a dry heat activated epoxy in the same manner and methodology as pioneered by the aerospace industry. The net result was an extremely lightweight, durable, and adaptable bicycle frame that could easily be produced in sufficient volume to achieve markedly competitive retail price points - and a frameset that was also to become a staple of the pro peloton throughout the decade of the 1980’s. In fact, the Vitus brand of Duralinox bicycles were to become inextricably associated with Sean Kelly, dubbed "King of the Classics" and ranked the world’s number one cyclist for six consecutive years from 1984 to 1989, inasmuch as he won numerous races on various Viti, riding them exclusively in competition through his Milan San Remo win in 1992.

The particular frameset seen here is a Vitus 979 Duralinox Mk I - a version which can easily be distinguished from its Mk II successor by the configuration of seat lug which employs a traditional binder bolt to secure a seat post as opposed to the later "fastback" style of lug (...an adaptation borrowed from the first Vitus Plus Carbone frames) that features an incredibly secure rear mounted grub screw which virtually eliminated the type of stress fractures sometimes associated with the earlier design. Other details perhaps worthy of note would include the use of standard "round" main tubes (...as differentiated from the optional "aero profile" or "lozenge" seat and down tubes that debuted in the mid 1980’s), an internally routed rear brake cable (...as opposed to a trio of conventional cable guides which were bonded along the crown of the top tube on the earliest versions of Vitus 979 framesets), and the presence of not one but two sets of water bottle boss mountings (...the vast majority of Mk I framesets having only a singular bottle mount on their down tube whereas only very late editions had a second set on their seat tube - something that would become standard on the Vitus 979 Mk II).

Perhaps the most often heard derisive commentary posited about these bicycles would be assertions that they were comparatively flexible at their bottom bracket, thereby producing a "whippy" ride, undue chain rub, and the occasional "auto shift" when sprinting or during a hard climb ... AND ... the framesets themselves were prone to literally fall apart at the seams, usually at the most inopportune moment according to urban legend. There is actually some degree of merit in the first criticism to the extent that the combination of a larger sized frame and heavier rider could indeed produce less than desirable ride characteristics at times (...if you stick to a 57 cm or smaller frame and weigh under 175 pounds, however, you are typically not going to experience any of this). The key to remember is that Vitus Duralinox models are the type of machine that will reward smooth pedaling technique and are prone to provide near instant feedback should you begin to pedal squares or otherwise waste energy (...i.e. do NOT get out of your saddle to stand on the pedals and mash gears unless you want to induce unfortunate results, or unless both you and the bicycle are of slight stature). As for that second criticism, all of the horror stories of which I am familiar involved failure of the later bonded carbon and aluminum Vitus framesets wherein the carbon fiber tubes tended to be inordinately stiff and frame flex was concentrated at the joints, thereby contributing to premature structural fatigue (...but even then, I have no personal knowledge of any sudden or catastrophic failures).