VitusVision!

   I belong to a Facebook group that often comments on classic films, and a few days ago the topic of VistaVision came up. The widescreen film process developed by Paramount Pictures engineers debuted in 1954 with White Christmas, which is certainly a holiday favorite of mine, but I prefer the screen magic of Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief (1955) or Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)!

   Because this week's blog entry focuses on images of two recently completed and related bicycle projects, I'm introducing...

   The first feature, from 1988, is a silver 979 Duralinox Mk II, distinguishable by the grub screw at the seat post collar, instead of a traditional clamp-style lug on the Mk I.

   This 979 was built for my friend Arol in New Hampshire, who asked for a Mavic groupset at a reasonable price, and I did the best I could. Based on my past experience with searching for a couple of the group's rare and costly parts, I ended up subbing in brake levers (Dia-Compe) and shift levers (Simplex) that had been used as prototypes by the Mavic design team.

   Some blue accents with bar tape and cable housing match up well with the Vitus logos:

   The second feature, from 1985, is a red 979 Duralinox Mk I that has a Shimano 600 Ultegra (Tricolor) groupset and Cinelli cockpit, most of the parts coming from its silver brother, after Arol contacted me about changing that bike to a Mavic components. The remainder of the group came from the Saronni bicycle, for as you know, I just can't abide by Shimano parts on a Colnago!
   This Vitus bicycle is currently for sale.

 

   All parts have arrived to complete Brendan's Tommasini, so I will have photos of that next time, as well as further details about the modernization build of my new friend Lenny's DeRosa bicycle.