Anyone remember the long and convoluted for sale thread where Gav (Easy_Rider) eventually gave away a Vitus 979 because he'd damaged the forks trying to get the headset off and the frame had a stuck seatpost? Even if you don't, here's a piccy of the almost finished project. Gav dropped the frame off at my mate's parents and they brought it down to Suffolk for me. I couldn't get the stem out so drilled and cut it out with little damage to the steerer tube. The seat post is stuck fast even though I've got the grub screw out using a stud extractor, I'm now relying on the pounding from my arse to move it in time, plus a little bit of penetrating oil. Even if it doesn't, the bike still fits me so long as I uise a shallow saddle like the Selle Italia Flite Titanium that's on it.
The bike is largely made up of bits from a Lemond Zurich that I stripped a while back, plus bits from the parts box.
Wheels - Mavic Cosmos
Groupset - mainly Shimano 105 with 8 speed brifters, rear mech is an older 600
Tyres - Conti Gatorskins
Stem - Nitto
Bars - 3TTT
Pedals - Look
It rides very nicely and seems to fit me ok, a bit more riding will tell if the seat post height is ok. This bike will be fitted with some Crudcatcher Race guards that came off another bike and I'll use it for winter.
The only thing that needs to be sorted out is the decals, which I can get from Ebay. I'll use them to hide the damage to the forks as it's actually where one of the existing decals sits.
As mentioned I used the bits from an older Lemond Zurich for this build and previously they have adorned a fake Colnago frame I had. All the time I rode that one I couldn't get the shifters to index properly, no matter how I adjusted them. Pah! Thinks I, they're dogs and I'll just have to put up with them or go for something different. When I did this build I had exactly the same problem, but sat back and looked carefully at the components, checking for misalignment etc. Doh! When the last owner changed the cassette and chain (which I know he did) he managed to mate a pair of 8 speed 105 brifters with a 9 speed Tiagra cassette..........no wonder the ruddy things wouldn't work. I stuck an 8 speed HG50 12/21 on and, wonder of wonders, it shifts slicker than owl sh!t.
Gordon
The bike is largely made up of bits from a Lemond Zurich that I stripped a while back, plus bits from the parts box.
Wheels - Mavic Cosmos
Groupset - mainly Shimano 105 with 8 speed brifters, rear mech is an older 600
Tyres - Conti Gatorskins
Stem - Nitto
Bars - 3TTT
Pedals - Look
It rides very nicely and seems to fit me ok, a bit more riding will tell if the seat post height is ok. This bike will be fitted with some Crudcatcher Race guards that came off another bike and I'll use it for winter.
The only thing that needs to be sorted out is the decals, which I can get from Ebay. I'll use them to hide the damage to the forks as it's actually where one of the existing decals sits.
As mentioned I used the bits from an older Lemond Zurich for this build and previously they have adorned a fake Colnago frame I had. All the time I rode that one I couldn't get the shifters to index properly, no matter how I adjusted them. Pah! Thinks I, they're dogs and I'll just have to put up with them or go for something different. When I did this build I had exactly the same problem, but sat back and looked carefully at the components, checking for misalignment etc. Doh! When the last owner changed the cassette and chain (which I know he did) he managed to mate a pair of 8 speed 105 brifters with a 9 speed Tiagra cassette..........no wonder the ruddy things wouldn't work. I stuck an 8 speed HG50 12/21 on and, wonder of wonders, it shifts slicker than owl sh!t.
Gordon
