Friday, January 6, 2012

Vitus 979.

  I happened to stumble upon this Vitus 979 while browsing online ad lsitings. The bike was listed as a Vintage Campagnolo 14-speed Road Bike 70s?, and info in the ad was lacking to say the least, and the picutres were clear but not great. The ad read something like this:
Vintage Campagnolo road bike. I don't know the year it was manufactured; this style was popular in the late '60s and early '70s, so I put "1970" as the model year.
Frame has "Paris Sport" in slight contrasting paint. Brake calipers say "Campagnolo."
This bike is nearly completely stock:


So after doing some homework I discovered the bike was actually a Paris Sport Branded Vitus 979, equipped with a full Campagnolo victory group. Without hesitation, we hopped in the car and drove two hours to pick up the bike. We ended up in a very, very.....very affluent area. Turns out the seller was a very polite, elderly gentlemen who could no longer make use of the bike. The vitus was very well kept, but had a layer of dust covering its aluminum luster. A nice bike wash, and little polish made it shine like new. See for yourself!

The vitus rode like a dream (for me at least). Most people find the vitus too "flexible" to ride with confidence; but myself, being 130lbs at 6'3 found it easy and comfortable to ride.

               read more about paris sport here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-o-z.html#parissport















                                           The vitus sold in auction for $1,000 on ebay.
See the full album here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114443538787772972710/RiddentreasureSVitus979AfterPics#

Friday, October 28, 2011

Vinatge Guerciotti: Sold!

                                                                  
                                                    The pictures speak for themselves.





If you are local to the San Fransisco Bay Area, e-mail Riddentreasure@gmail.com

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Finished Project: Mikkelsen track frame

This Columbus steel track frame (54cm) was custom fabricated and welded by Bernie Mikkelsen of alameda. He charges around $1200 for a custom bike. Mikkelsen is an artist in his own right, and makes some of the best custom frames in northern california.
ttp://www.mikkelsenframes.com/



(yes, that's my cat in the background)

This frame definitely has its battle scars.
Applying chemical paint stripper.
use chemical resistant gloves, this stuff BURNS.........Trust me I know.


viola!

Seatstays are fillet brazed to to the seat-tube, oooh yeah.


I used steel detail brushes along with the chemical stripper to remove the stubborn areas of paint.

primer time!


 getting ready for paint!


                                                                 Time to paint!
 DupliColor Jet Black being applied with a HVLP touch up gun.
 5-10 min between coats..........waiting is not fun.
 another coat.

All done!

Ridden Treausre

Welcome to the official website (well, blog actually) of Ridden Treasure Bicycles. Ridden Treasure is homegrown used bicycle project the pledges to utilize 100% used/recycled bicycle frames to restore the vintage bikes of old. We focus mainly on vintage road and track bikes, but were open to just about any other style of bicycle.

   What you’ll find here:
·         Detailed timelines of bicycle restoration projects (yes, hi-res pictures too!)
·         What items are up for sale
·         History/information on vintage bikes.
·         DIY bike restoration and repair
·         Reviews on bikes and parts
·         And much more!

Don’t forget to check out the facebook Page too!


T. Kifle