1987 Vitus Carbone 9 «tout Mavic»

serial no. E097715

715th frame made in September 1987

Purchased as a frameset on eBay for $250 on 26 October 2015
back on the road 13 February 2016

The Restoration

The eBay seller purchased this from a bike shop as a one previous owner machine for its complete Dura Ace 7400 groupset and was told the bike had only been used about six times. The frame is in likewise almost NOS condition.

Perhaps predictably I returned this to the road avec "Tout Mavic équipement" to achieve a "tout française" top end racing bike of a period when this was still possible as well as paying homage to the iconic 1980s Vitus and Mavic connection. The full Mavic SSC 1000 group c. 1987 was used together with Mavic GEL 280 rims. The other French components include the Maillard zycral freewheel, Sedis chain, Reydel saddle, Rubis seat post, Christophe toe clips, Lepize toe straps and T/A bidon. The only items not of French manufacture are the brakes (made in Italy by Modolo but badged as Mavic), tyres (Czech Republic), 'bar tape (Mexico) and cables (Taiwan). Sourcing Mavic components nowadays is surprisingly difficult given a renewed interest in this era and Mavic/Vitus machines so, for now, "Modolo" marked brake levers will have to suffice until "Mavic" ones are found.

The colour scheme was chosen to emulate the Mavic house livery contrasting the black carbon/kevlar tubing and anthracite gray Mavic components with yellow cabling, 'bar wrap, toestraps and tubular tyre sidewalls as with replica Mavic frame decals.

The built up weight is 17.8 lbs

The Mavic/Vitus Connection

Ushering in a fruitful if final decade of French racing bike innovation and peloton presence, the Vitus and Mavic nexus began in 1979. That November Vitus/Bador introduced its 979 series of racing frames employing duralinox aluminium main triangle tubes epoxy bonded to cast alloy seat stays, chain stays, seat tube cluster, bottom bracket and head tube.

Concurrently in 1979, Mavic debuted its first group set as an alternative to the Spidel (Simplex/Stronglight) and Huret French brands. This initially comprised 400 series brakes (actually made by Modolo), 351/353 handlebars, stem, 600 pedals, chainset and bottom bracket, 800 rear derailleur and 500 hubset.. The following year the headset and front derailleur were added and with it the first "Tout Mavic" professional racing team, Boston-Mavic, which participated in that year's Tour de France. In 1984 the Mavic SSC 1000 Group was first offered which refined the original components. That year nine professional racing teams were "Tout Mavic/Vitus". The great Irish cycling champion Sean Kelly achieved all of his victories on Vitus frames with Tout Mavic components.

Vitus/Mavic was the great 1980s combination in the pro peloton as well as achieving substantial commercial sales success at home and abroad. Together they represented an enormous triumph of French technical innovation and revolutionary manufacturing techniques en tête de la course of cycle production and competitive cycle sport of the era.

The Vitus "Carbone Plus" machines

In 1983, the Vitus Plus substituted carbon fibre main triangle tubes to achieve a lighter and stiffer frame. This design, also known as the Vitus Carbone 3, was augmented by the Carbone 7 in 1985 which added carbon fibre chain and seat stays. This retained the original CLB designed cast alloy head tube, fork, bottom bracket but introduced a new seat tube cluster using a seat post grub screw fixing instead of the conventional "eared" design which was prone to cracking. This design was adopted by the Vitus 979 machines as well.

The Vitus Carbone Plus 9

The Vitus Carbone 9 frame is made with 9 tubes in composite material produced by the filament winding method. This gives the structure maximum strength, allowing sportsmen and women to satisfy their craving for good results and high performance. This frame does, in fact, give them the ratio of strength, weight and performance. Numerous laboratory tests have confirmed the qualities of this frame, which make it the world leader in its category.
Vitus brochure, 1987

Continuing the development of the Vitus composite alloy/carbon fibre concept, the Carbone 9 was introduced in 1987. The Carbone 7 became a "9" by counting the two piece rear stays as two each but the fork remained the original 1979 pattern Vitus 979 one as did the other cast alloy pieces. But what was really new was the composition and manufacture of the tubes themselves.

In 1986 the French firm TVT (Tubes Verre Tisse or "tubes in knitted glass) pioneered carbon/kelvar cycle frame tubing which was stronger and more resilient than the original plain carbon. This was first used in the Look KG86 (ridden to a Tour de France victory that year by American Greg Lemond). In 1987 the TVT92 was introduced.

For the new Carbone 9, Vitus also adopted Kevlar but with a different production method using "filament Kevlar wound" carbon tubes. The carbon thread was wound onto a mandrel the same shape and size of the tubing and then moulded rather than being knitted into tresses as TVT did. The tubes themselves were made at Anglet by the aerospace firm Arcore Brigantine. This filament Kevlar weave was part of the finish, a web of silver grey threads throughout the tubing which imparted a striking, unique appearance augmented by clear lacquering of the tubes rather than the dull plain carbon of previous designs. The Carbone 3 remained in production and made of the same carbon/kevlar tubing. In 1988-89 the Kevlar filaments changed into a more pronounced bronze colour pattern and an additional pair of bottle bosses on the seat tube.

The Carbone 9 was one of the lightest production racing frames of its era, a 56 cm frame (without fork) tipping the scales at 2.87 lbs (1304 g) vs 3.09 lbs for the Carbone 3 and 3.33 lbs (1510 g) for the Vitus 979. As it shared the cast alloy bottom bracket, lugs and head tube of the original 979 frame, the Carbone 9 had the same geometry and frame dimensions and could be rotated with the other variants in team use depending on stage length, road conditions etc. As with the previous Vitus frames, the Carbone 9 quickly proved itself in the professional peloton by which time Vitus was already truly a choice of champions and with the palmares to prove it. Sean Kelly, the greatest champion of Vitus machines, won the 1988 Tour of Spain for KAS on a Carbone 9, both a conventional road model and a time trial version.

Retaining its conventionally sized and shaped tubes, stays and fork, 126 rear spacing, single pair of bottle cage bosses and top tube brake clips, the 1987 Vitus Carbone 9 was among the last new classic looking racing bikes despite its modern materials. The 1984 Mavic SSC group, too, retained non aero brakes, conventional rat-trap pedals, straps and clips, six-speed gearing and conventional parallelogram derailleur furthering the machine's traditional aspects. 1987 was also the last year for the venerable Mavic triangle on a red label logo for rims amid a transition to the new look black block letter on a bold yellow rectangle which was already widely used including the sticker sets that came with the components and featured on this machine.

For Vitus, the Carbone 9 was the final development of its nearly decade old composite carbon/alloy frame technology using conventional round carbon tubing. Ironically, it was introduced the same year as the first bladder moulded carbon monocoque racing frame, the Kestrel 4000, which was altogether stronger, lighter and easier to produce than Vitus' composite frames. And it facilitated molding the frame into any number of aerodynamic shapes. In 1991 Vitus introduced its own monocoque carbon frame, the ZX1.

In 1992, the last variant of the classic bonded alloy frame was introduced, the Vitus 992 with oversized ovoid (and thus more rigid tubes) to replace the venerable 979. The Carbone 9 was styled as the FCK9 (Fibre Carbone Kevlar) with the same internal brake cable routing, aerodynamic fork and 130 rear spacing as the 992. In 1997, the 997 debuted which featured ovalised carbon Kevlar tubes (OVT tubing) and this proved to be the last of the Vitus frames made by Bador at Saint-Étienne. Two decades of French racing cycle technical achievement finally came to an end.

Frame
Material: Nine tubes (comprising the seat, down and top tubes, chainstays and two-part backstays separated by the rear brake bridge) Vitus Plus carbon woven with Kevlar reinforcing filaments
Lugs/bottom bracket/fork crown/drop-outs and rear brake bridge: CLB cast alloy
Fork and head tube: Vitus 979 Duralinox
Colour: lacquered bare Carbon/Kevlar
Size: seat tube 59 cm (c to c), 60.4 cm (c to t), top tube 57 cm (c to c)
Angles: 74.5 (head) 73.5 (seat)
Rear spacing: 126 mm
Wheelbase: 38.5"
Chainstay length: 16"
Bottom bracket height: 10.5"
Fork rake: 1 7/16th"
Trail: 2.10"
Weight:
bare frame: 3.0 lbs
fork: 1.2 lbs
complete machine: 17.8 lbs

Components (“Tout Mavic” 1000 SSC)
Rear derailleur: Mavic 801 165 g.
Front deralleur: Mavic 810 100 g.
Gear levers: Mavic-Simplex open teardrop pattern 820 retrofriction levers
Chainset: Mavic 630 42t x 53t, 172.5 mm cranks 575 g.
Bottom bracket: Mavic 610 RD threadless, sealed bearings 300 g.
Headset: Mavic 311 25x100 English thread 82 g.
Stem: Mavic 365 120 cm 270 g.
Handlebars: Mavic 350 Criterium 40 mm 320 g., Benotto "thick" Cello-Tape and KAS Team 'bar plugs
Brakes: Mavic (rebadged Modolo Professional) Super Pro 420 anthracite anodised with white Modolo brake hoods 590 g. Modolo marked levers installed for now.
Seatpost: Rubis 930 23.0 mm 320 g.
Saddle: Reydel GTi 320 g.
Pedals: Mavic 640 English thread 340 g.
Toeclips and straps: Christophe Competition "Z" black anodised alloy clips and Lapize straps
Rims: Mavic GEL-280 700x20mm 32-hole sprints 280 g.
Tyres: Tufo Jet Special 700x20 230 g.
Hubs: Mavic low-flange 500RD sealed bearings with Mavic alloy skewers 215 g. (front) 260 (rear)
Freewheel: Maillard 700 Professional zycral 6-speed 13-19t 135 g.
Chain: Sedisport d'Or GT-7
Accessories: Vitus alloy bottle cage and T/A Mavic bottle