Talk:Vitus (bicycle company)

First Vitus carbon fiber frames

Hi LDHan. In your edition of this page you stated that Vitus first carbon frames were produced in the "early-mid 1980s". I don't think this is correct. The first bicycle company to manufacture commercially sold carbon fiber frames was Kestrel - and that happpened in 1986. In parallel, I discussed this subject with two French friends, and the three of us could not recall seeing any Vitus carbon frame prior to the mid 1990s. We believe that the first carbon Vitus was manufactured around 1993, so I edited the page accordingly. Do you have any additional information on the first Vitus carbon fiber frames? P.S.: I'm a former Vitus owner - very unique bicycles they are! Regards, Sal Chiappetta (talk) 21:09, 25 December 2007 (UTC)Sal Chiappetta

Hi, I suppose this would depend on how "carbon fiber frame" is defined, but Vitus made carbon frames in the 80s, or at least marketed "Vitus" carbon frames. The first ones had the 3 main tubes in carbon and the rest in aluminium, all bonded to alu lugs, they were the same as their 979 alu bonded frames except that the 3 main tubes were carbon instead of alu. I don't know the exact year of introduction, but the Peugeot team was using this frame in I think 1983 (badged as "Peugeot"). Then they introduced a model with the seatstays and chainstays also in carbon, I think this might be around 1985-7. I have some catalogs with Vitus frames from the 80s but I can't check them right now, if you look at photos of Sean Kelly riding for the Skil or Kas teams in the 80s you can see him riding these frames. Also see [[1]]. LDHan (talk) 14:30, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

See [[2]], I'm not sure what year this frame was first branded as "Vitus", it might have been 1984. LDHan (talk) 15:54, 26 December 2007 (UTC)