Early Rocky Mountain Road frame.

[vtwinvince]

Yup, I think the earlier Giros were also made from Vitus tubes, as well as Columbus. I'm not an RM expert by any means, but it is possible that your bike is such a creation. I know that RM kept sketchy records of their production, as I contacted Grayson Bain, amongst others, on another issue and they had no clue about specifics.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

OK, so I picked the bike up today- Photos to come another day- but for now, The S/N is E073433. According to that Vitus link that dates this as the 433rd frame march 1987 build.

Soooo. There goes that theory. That makes these sold alongside Bailey built Giro's and Turbo's at least until mid year of 87 I'd guess.

The search continues.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

OK, so I picked the bike up today- Photos to come another day- but for now, The S/N is E073433. According to that Vitus link that dates this as the 433rd frame march 1987 build.

Soooo. There goes that theory. That makes these sold alongside Bailey built Giro's and Turbo's at least until mid year of 87 I'd guess.

The search continues.

Something didn't sit right with me regarding the serial number- my frame has the old style seat cluster that came out in 85/86- so it just couldn't be an 87... so I googled some more- Turns out that Vitus link, though full of awesome information, is complete bull shit when it comes to deciphering a Vitus 979 serial number. An example of "as long as you're confident saying it, people will believe you" - There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the S/N apart from E, I, F prefix referencing the bottom bracket.

The seat cluster and a few other changes along it's 18 year life cycle are all that there is to date these frames it seems. with my cluster being the old one, and only one H2O bottle bolts- I'd think it's safe to say that it's pre mid 85. So maybe back to the theory that these were purchased and stickered up as Rocky's while Bailey designed and built the Giro's and Turbo's?

 

[NigelFinnighan]

Ok Pictures after a strip- there's really nothing that this thing apart from any other Vitus 979 frame from what I can tell based on internet pictures, apart from the Rocky Mountain stickers on the head and seat tube which look original- there are faint evidence of "Vitus" decals on the top tube. that I tried to capture. I don't know the direction of build yet, I honestly don't know what I'm doing lol. I'm going to start with a good polish, and source a pair of Vitus 979 forks for it. After a little bit of elbow grease with some scratch pad and wd40, I think this frame will polish up really nicely.

On to pictures- You can kinda see how well the frame has been cleaning up so far. I'd like to take my time with this polishing. Ultimately I'm looking for a satin lug look. I'm excited for decals- I think I'm doing a typical rocky downtube... but which era and colourway? I think I'd like some fun 80's colours in the decals- then I'd like to do the "Vitus" in the typical model location but in the same font and Turbo and Giro.

can anyone help date with the decal?

 

[ViperZ]

This is going to be one sweet looking ride!

 

[vtwinvince]

You'd think that RM would have mentioned a collaboration of this kind with Vitus in the period literature, but I can't find anything.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

Yeah, I've scoured everything with no mention- I'm only seeing pictures of other people bikes. A red one and a black one but neither really say anything about WTF they are or why.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Interesting bike. No expert here, but I wonder if it could be manufactured in Asia since their mountain bike supply chain went to Asia and everything I've read indicates Derek Bailey brazed his frames together.

 

[vtwinvince]

This frame has zero to do with Bailey, I'm pretty sceptical that it has anything to do with RM.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

I guess I should update this thread-

Yes this has nothing to do this Derek Bailey, he was still in England in 86, and this was built in France. It's a Vitus 979 branded as a Rocky Mountain. Side note- Vitus built frame sets for many other companies who wanted to offer an aluminum frame set but didn't have the capabilities. You'll see these branded as Vitus, Peugeot, Motobecane, etc.

I haven't found any scans of ads, or catalogues, etc that confirm this bike anywhere, whoever others do exist...

https://mylittlebikeshop.com/products/size-50cm-1980s-vitus-979-road-bike-shimano-600-like-new
Which is a beautiful red one with the newer seat binder. Which is why I'm thinking this would date these around '86, because Vitus made the change about half way through 1985 from my understanding.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/rocky-mountain-label-vitus-979-road-155131688
A white one, again with the newer seat binder.

There's also a black one I've seen online. You're right vtwinvince I can't confirm Rocky Mountain stickered and sold these Vitus frames, but with others that exist, we know someone did.

oh! here's a horrible picture of where she stand now.



The rear wheel is White Industries Campy, I'm wanting to run Shimano Ultegra. I can buy one online... $200 usd, Ti, blah, blah, I don't need that. So I'm being patient. I'm tape is going to be red, so I'm debating dyeing a white turbo red? thoughts?

Ok before you answer that- I'm thinking getting the decals done in Rocky team yellow (including the Vitus tuptube), Then I was going to get my business name.ca on the wheels also in the team yellow. (Kinda like they sponsored me lol, which is me, so it's kinda true.)