Garage Sale Find, Peugeot Super Vitus 980 Triathlon

[TimW]

I just picked up a beautiful Peugeot Triathlon with a Super Vitus 980 frame and fork that is in excellent condition. From what I was able to research, it is a 1986 model. It appears to be all original except the wheels and saddle. It has a Matrix wheelset with a 7 speed cassette, but it originally was a 6 speed. Major components include Sachs Huret New Success deraileur, Stronglight crankset, Modolo brakes, and ATAX stem and internally expanding seatpost.

I would really apprecaite any knowledge others have on this model. In particular, I am finding conflicting information on whether the bottom bracket is French or English and if the spindle is standard JIS. Thanks

[Blue Jays]

Modolo Professional brakes were the absolute coolest back in the day!
The sintered brakepads were rough on anodized rims, yet brakes themselves looked sharp and stopped well in my experience.

[pinkshogun]

does the non drive bb cup have any markings to indicate country or threading size like 1.37 english, 35 french, 36 italian?

[john segal]

Might be Swiss threaded. Lucky you.
I had the exact same bike, 1985 model.

[TimW]

The only marking I can see is two interlinked circles. Kind of like the Olympic or Audi symbol, except only 2 circles

[zmudshark]

Sounds English, with two rings on fixed cup, as per Sutherland's.

[mhespenheide]

Can't tell you about the model, but Super Vitus 980 is nice tubing!

[Joxster]

I had a frame built for Romandie, and was told that it was a 4 ride bike. This was back in 87 and the complete bike was 15lbs, it hadled like a dream, climbed well and descended like I was on rails. Sure enough on the fifth ride I snapped the frame. I really wish I had the frame copied in SLX or 753.

[pinkshogun]

i picked this up a couple weeks ago..made in France, english bb and 22.2 I.D. stem...the stem diameter took me by surprise

[El Chaba]

That bike was very near the end of the French Peugeots for the US. Triathlon was popular in that time period and bike companies were trying to cash in on it. Usually a "triathlon" model was what would have been known as a "semi-"pro" a few years before...So, a nice frame of butted tubing with components that are nice, but not the top of the line. This bike is sort of the evolution of the Peugeot PSV10 model...About those Peugeot PSV frames (the Sv designating Super Vitus tubing....) They have a bit of a cult following. Super Vitus tubing was NOT second tier and ranged from light to very light depending upon the gauge. These were not bikes for mashers, but they have a very pleasant and smooth ride. The Super Vitus Peugeots were often a pound lighter than the model above it built with "standard" gauge butted Reynolds 531...It's an interesting bike from the end of the French cycling industry...I'd bet on BSC threading everywhere at that late date, but weird things sometimes happened especially as Peugeot made bikes for distribution all over the world. The internal expanding seatpost is an oddity-made by Atax-but they were solid, well designed and I think attractive...

[AngryScientist]

can't say i know the first thing about it, but that is a very nice looking bike Tim.

happy miles to ya!

[TimW]

I really appreciate all the information you all have provided. My research conforms what El Chaba provided. The Triathlon model seems to basically be a PSV-10 frame with an extra set of water bottle bosses braised onto the bottom side of the down tube to provide a third location for a water bottle. The Triathlon model also came with a tool kit that included an different ratio freewheel, a freewheel removal took and some other things. Unfortunately I did not get the tool kit with mine. It appears that the bottom bracket is english, but I plan on test fitting english cups on the adjustment side before trying to remove the fixed cup. My biggest concern is turning the fixed cup in the wrong direction while trying to remove it messing up the threads. I definitely think this is going to be a keeper! Thanks again.

[oliver1850]

I asked a friend (who has great knowledge about French bikes) about the frame. He seemed fairly confident that it would be English threaded and take a 22.2 mm stem.

[ultraman6970]

Super nice...

I never find jack in yard sales here, once got a good one in CL.. and twice scored with finds at the sidewalk in the street, not fancy but really good condition 70's/80's bikes.

i picked this up a couple weeks ago..made in France, english bb and 22.2 I.D. stem...the stem diameter took me by surprise

[tctyres]

I had one of these in white a few years ago that I found on CL in original condition, similar to yours. The SV tubing is light. I found that the friction dt shifters would ghost shift in the back when a lot of power was put into pedaling. Overall, it's a nice bike. I sold mine because it was noodly and ghost shifted.