Vitus Carbone 9 time trial bike

1990 Vitus Carbone 9 time trial bike with custom paint

Wow, it looks fast just sitting there, doesn’t it?

This is a rather custom Vitus carbone 9 time trial bike from the early ‘90’s.
Funny bikes like this one had been around since the mid ‘80’s, but upon seeing Greg LeMond smoke Laurent Fignon and everyone else at the finish of the 1989 Tour de France most bike racers (regardless of their abilities) added a time trial bike to their growing pile of equipment.

A rear disc wheel, sometimes a front disc (or at least a front wheel with bladed spokes) was what you wanted.  The downward-sloping top tube was a must and some bikes achieved this slope with a curved top tube. Cowhorn bars meant you were serious about going fast and the smaller front wheel meant you could get those bars really low.

Now, if it weren’t for the paint job and the crazy brake calipers this Vitus Carbone 9 would look just like the bikes that Sean Kelly and his KAS team rode in 1988.

Scott-LeMond aero bars

Custom paint

Looks fast, right?

Mavic parts all around

You’d see bare carbon fiber tubes and a lot of French Mavic components. The pink sky and purple mountains depicted in the paint makes this bike even more special. Was this custom for the original owner? A display bike in Vitus’ booth at a trade show? Who knows?

What I do know is that this bike is awesome. Just like Greg LeMond’s Bottechia time trial bike from the ‘89 season, this Vitus is outfitted with stylish and fast Mavic parts. The model 851 derailleur looks like it was made out of pieces of an erector set toy. The Mavic 631 crankset’s bold styling has been dubbed the “starfish” crank by countless bike people, even though Mavic never called it that and “starfish” are now called sea-stars since they aren’t actually fish.

Mavic 631 “Starfish”

Mavic 851 SSC derailleur

Cinetica adjustable length stem

The San Marco badge is upside down!

Weinmann? Delta brakes

The brakes are another amazing bit of performance and style. They feature a “delta” design like the Modolo Kronos brakes and Campagnolo’s iconic brake calipers from the era. These were probably made by the Swiss Weinmann company, but I could be wrong, they have some different design elements than other Weinmann Deltas that I’ve seen.

All in all, a crazy fast racing bike from 1990. Hi-tech carbon and aluminum materials, the best aerodynamic design from the era, and lots of custom details.

Big thanks for reproducing excellent quality Vitus decals and best wishes to Alex Cycles in Kharkiv, Ukraine.