Vitus Record with red crankset - good taste or not ?

[MAMIL65]

New to the stable is this Vitus Record, which has an interesting mix of French components.

The Sachs 7000 crankset is not exactly to my taste.
My first thought was to polish through the anodising & turn it back to shiny alloy, but before I do that, I'd like to seek opinions from the cognoscenti ?

Is there anyone out there looking for a red crankset to finish off a red-themed build ?

All views welcome

 

[nammonk]

Not.
Is it worth the polishing effort? Suntour Superbe Pro would look good on there.
Nick

 

[bduc61]

Re:

you mention french parts but the brake calipers look like shimano 600 ax, the front derailleur like a shimano and possibly a 600 ax one too and rear derailleur loks like a shimano one too or a suntour cyclone :idea:

a shimano crankset would possibly look the part too

 

[MAMIL65]

Well observed sir !

Because the frame is French, and I bought it in France, I initially assumed the components were mostly French.

Now I've done a proper inventory, you're right, there's as much Shimano on it as anything else.
I thought Sachs was a French brand, but no, as I'm sure anyone else on this forum knows, it's German.

Aside from the frame; the French bits are:
Bars: Belleri Randonneur
Headset: Bador Competition
Hubs: Maillard 700
Rims: Mavic
Rear cluster: Sachs- Maillard

Plan A, forged over a bottle of wine last night, is to try to build it up "a la Française".
This view is partly influenced by the Shimano brakes, which look very cool and interesting, but don't actually slow the bike down. At all.
Now, I realise this is more to do with aged pads than the underlying design, but it looks as if the pads are unique to this type, and probably a challenge to find.

I'm very taken by the look of the Mavic "starfish" crankset, maybe that's the way to go.

Apart from the inability to slow down, the ride is great, by the way. I'll have to wait 'til I get back from holiday to weigh it, but it feels very light, definitely the lightest bike I have.

Thanks for the input.

 

[bduc61]

Re:

well Sachs bought huret at a time so some french parts were rebranded sachs ones

sachs never really convinced on the road parts scene :?

if you want to follow the french theme with mavic starfish, you'll need some cash though as buying a complete group is difficult and costly, I am afraid :roll:

your comment about the brakes does not surprises me - most of the "delta designed brakes " are now renowned for their efficiency ( campa even reintroduced the cobalto calipers as users were not happy with the delta ones )
and yes I believe the brake pads for this shimano 600 ax are difficult to source

If I were you, I would still probably try the shimano 600 ax route initially -even if the crankset with its specific pedal thread diameter is not too frequent too :idea:

 

[shutter]

Did someone say Mavic starfish?

Build thread just incase you want some Mavic ideas... click HERE:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=300391

.

.

.

 

[Spokesmann]

New to the stable is this Vitus Record, which has an interesting mix of French components.

The Sachs 7000 crankset is not exactly to my taste.
My first thought was to polish through the anodising & turn it back to shiny alloy, but before I do that, I'd like to seek opinions from the cognoscenti ?

Is there anyone out there looking for a red crankset to finish off a red-themed build ?

All views welcome

Needs some red components and accessories to help it along...