In 1979 the French company Atelier de Rive/Bador introduced the Vitus 979 bicycle. It’s lugged and glued aluminum frame was revolutionary. It was a very competitive racer, sold widely and stayed in production for 13 years. However, by 1992, the revolution had been eclipsed by other manufacturers. Cannondale introduced welded aluminum frames in 1984 and Agis introduced full monocoque carbon fiber frames in 1986.
To stay in the game, Vitus introduced the completely revised Vitus 992 in 1992. It was a big improvement in both performance and appearance. Unfortunately it was too little, too late. by then, asian made carbon fiber frames dominated the market.
We acquired this 992 from the original owner in 2017. He included the original bill of sale and the performance bike catalog where he selected the build options. It was built up with a complete Campagnolo 8 speed Chorus groupset. The bike was completely original and little ridden. However, it had been stored in an unconditioned toolshed for all these years and all of the anodized aluminum was badly oxidized. (basically everything – since the whole bike is aluminum)
We did a down to the frame restoration retaining all of the original parts except pedals and saddle. We spent many hours polishing all of the aluminum components. On many of the components, the forks and crankset for example, the anodized finish was so corroded that we ended up removing it and polishing the aluminum finish below it.
The bike rides as good as it looks.