# French Vita -Sprint ?



## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

I was driving the other day and found this bike sitting next to the dumpster. I took it home and have begun to strip it down and so on , I completely stripped it and none of the rust has went all the way through the frame and it has wonderful lug work =). Anyway,I wonder if any of you have heard of this bike before and also if you think it would be a great restore or just make it a fixie ?This is a picture of the frame before I stripped it today :


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## ckilner (Oct 4, 2004)

What does the tubing decal say at the top of the seat tube?


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## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

It's french, so you may have a hard time finding a bottom bracket (or a different stem, or a different headset should that one be trashed)...

VO sells a french-thread bottom bracket... http://www.velo-orange.com/edbobr.html

Cool looking frame! good luck with it!


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

ckilner- The tubing decal says hand made in France.
buck-50-I may have to buy a new stem if I can't find a new inside nut for it(It was so stuck I stapped it in half taking it out lol). The headset is surprisingly in good shape ,I think I can just get away with a good re grease and re instal. I do have the bottom bracket ,I had just already taken it off. The cranks were also ok but one of the crank pins was bent really bad,do you know of a place I can get a replacement crank arm pin or am I stuck buying a new crank ?

Thanks for the responses fellas =)


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## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

curty42082 said:


> ckilner- The tubing decal says hand made in France.
> buck-50-I may have to buy a new stem if I can't find a new inside nut for it(It was so stuck I stapped it in half taking it out lol). The headset is surprisingly in good shape ,I think I can just get away with a good re grease and re instal. I do have the bottom bracket ,I had just already taken it off. The cranks were also ok but one of the crank pins was bent really bad,do you know of a place I can get a replacement crank arm pin or am I stuck buying a new crank ?
> 
> Thanks for the responses fellas =)


There's tons of old stronglight cranks (oh so french) out there on Ebay- if you stay away from the desirable ones, you could find something cheap. One other thing to look out for with the cranks that were on the bike- french pedal threads were different than everyone elses... try putting one of your other pedals on the crank- if it goes on easy, you're fine. if not, you might want to look for a different crank that takes a standard 9/16 threaded pedal. Or, again, go to VO- that guy loves french stuff. he's still got french thread pedals.


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

Thanks again for the info =). The more I get into this project the more fun I'm having with it. It's amazing what you can find in the trash !


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## bane (Aug 30, 2006)

How well did that clean up? It looks super dirty. Just wondering if the paint is still intact or not.


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

The paint was a bit to far gone to save ,so I stripped it completely . I'm not sure what I'm going to paint it yet but the frame looks brand new now .


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## plodderslusk (Sep 2, 2005)

I do have the bottom bracket ,I had just already taken it off. The cranks were also ok but one of the crank pins was bent really bad,do you know of a place I can get a replacement crank arm pin or am I stuck buying a new crank ?
QUOTE]

See Sheldon Brown on old french bicycles. You could get away with just a new spindle with the right distance between the "ridges" that creates the races on the spindle. I did just taht on a french BB from 63. Then you can use a modern crankset. Nice frame for a fixie conversion !


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

plodderslusk said:


> I do have the bottom bracket ,I had just already taken it off. The cranks were also ok but one of the crank pins was bent really bad,do you know of a place I can get a replacement crank arm pin or am I stuck buying a new crank ?
> QUOTE]
> 
> See Sheldon Brown on old french bicycles. You could get away with just a new spindle with the right distance between the "ridges" that creates the races on the spindle. I did just taht on a french BB from 63. Then you can use a modern crankset. Nice frame for a fixie conversion !



I hadn't thought of that angle for the crankset,I'll have to look into that because I have lots of modern cranks laying around. I think it'll make a great fixie too. If I can get that worked out with the idea you have , I'd love to put one of my 56 tooth cranks on it and run a 16 in back =)


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## I Don't Huck! (Dec 1, 2008)

I just found an orange one of these in a trash pile myself. Have you found any info about this brand since you found yours? Do you know why it has World Championship Rainbow stripes on them? Any info would be welcomed.

Thanks


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

the actual brand name is St. Étienne. It was a mid range bicycle maker . As far as the bike goes here is what I would recommend :

1. Keep the bottom bracket. I have yet to be able to find one that will fit it. Just buy new bearings, sand the inside of the bottom bracket if pitted at all with circular fine grind , and re-pack . The brackets cups comes out clock wise on drive side, counter on opposite side. 
2. Either keep the cranks that are already on it if in good shape or, find a spindle to replace it that will match up with the races- The good news is that a Japanese spindle made for an Italian size (70 mm) bottom bracket will usually fit! In the Sugino marking system, these are the spindles that are marked with a "5" code. Spindles for 68 mm bbs have codes beginning with 3. This trick often makes it possible to upgrade an older bike from cotterd to cotterless cranks at a reasonable cost-.
3. Paint does not stick to the frame well ,so primer the hell out of it !
4. The headset is a ***** to replace. keep the one you have and just buy new bearings,rust me on this one and this is why :The threaded parts of a French headset are non-standard, but the press-in parts are conventional. If you have a worn-out headset, it is most likely the lower races that are damaged. If you have trouble finding a French headset, you can replace the bottom races with a standard headset, and keep the old parts on top.

French headsets use a different type of keyed washer than others. Instead of having a groove machined in the threads, the rear part of the threads is filed flat. French headsets commonly used a serrated keyed washer, with matching serrations on the threaded bearing race. This makes them slightly harder to adjust, but once they are adjusted, they hold their adjustment better than conventional designs.

Other than that ,wheels shouldn't be much of a problem to find for this. It is actually a good frame and is worth buying new wheels for , repainting , and turning into a fixie but I wouldn't put much more than a few hundred into .


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

These are pictures of the frame after the work I have so far done with it . I have completely stripped ,primed it ,and repainted it. Then I took the headset off of it and finish sanded it, switched out the bearings and smoothed out the inner parts of it to take out pitting, then repacked it .I have not finished the bottom bracket yet on one of the sides (it is stuck and i can't find an exact wrench to loosen it ,I may have to put it in a vise). On the other side though ,I removed the cup, then finish sanded both the cup and the inside of the frame. 
As you can see , I still have lots of work ahead but that's what winter is for


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## thephillz.ox (May 30, 2011)

i found the same frame at a thrift store and was wandering what size bottom bracket i should use?


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## ru4_nyy (Jun 28, 2011)

*Vita-Sprint*

Hello everyone. I am a newbie here and just recently dusted off my old 1970's Vita-Sprint to ride. I got rid of the dry rot tires (Hutchinson) replaced with whatever I could find, replaced the brake pads with Kool-Stop salmon, and added a gel seat to replace the rock hard plastic saddle. When I bought it, I added quick release hubs as it originally came with wing nuts. Also added a Pletscher rack on the back. It has the original MAFAC racer brakes and tool set and simplex derailliers. This was my answer to all my friends that had Peugeot U-08's and I wanted to be different. Plus orange and black were my high school colors. Here are some pictures


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## gaffory (Aug 19, 2013)

I Don't Huck! said:


> I just found an orange one of these in a trash pile myself. Have you found any info about this brand since you found yours? Do you know why it has World Championship Rainbow stripes on them? Any info would be welcomed.
> 
> Thanks


Wow...I can't believe the lack of information on the net regarding VitaSprint bicycles. Well... back in 1972, Raymond Che and myself were the exclusive importers for VitaSprint (a name we chose for the US market). These bikes were made by Saint-Etienne Manufrance. It was a huge company with 4000 workers in 1973... was mostly known for its small arms manufacture. For all you cycle buffs out there, Raymond and I were the first to import French made bicycles into the US on a large scale. Before Gitanes and Peugeot... One should know that the company made only the frames and each distributor would select the brand name (that were registered with the company such as Jacques Anquetil...etc or create their own such as we did with VitaSprint). We created model names for our line ...the Comte, V-comte etc.. and selected components for each model ... Shimano, Campignolo, Mavic... etc. We were doing very well in the East coast until my partner got the idea to bring in investment capital to increase our shipments through the First National Bank of Toledo Ohio. For said investment, I was forced to give up my fifty percent interest in Caroline Imports and fifty percent interest in the National distribution that La Bicyclette Inc retained. In exchange, I got 100 % stock holding and the exclusive distribution in the thirteen original States of La Bicyclette Inc. It didn't take long for the bankers to run into trouble. Distributors were set-up in the mid-west, Texas...California. Credit was extended and they ran into slow or default payments from several accounts they had set up. Pressure was put on my distribution sector to increase sales whereby they increased my quotas to make up for the non-payments of the accounts that were in default. Raymond was a great friend but his banker ran the show. In 1975, I had enough and turned over my company to Raymond for 1 dollar and wished him good luck. A year later they went belly up whilst Gitane, Peugeot were taking important market-share nationwide. The company in France that had counted on their new U.S. market to sustain their operation went bankrupt in 1979.


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## PCG (Oct 27, 2013)

Hi folks, I am new to the forum but have a Vita Sprint Compte complete that I want to go to a good home. I bought it from what was called the Oakmont Bike Store in Habvertown, Pa. in 1977 (best rememberance). it has the Reynolds 531 double butted frame, chrome tipped fork, Nervar Star crank set, Mavic rims, Mafac "Racer" brakes, Simplex front derailleur but I upgraded to a Campognolo rear derailleur in 1983. The bike frame was stripped, fixed lugs attached for shifters and bottle, etc. and re-painted by Ausenmacher in the Flint, Mi. area. The old sew-up tires are decades old, but everything works. Anyone have any interest? Glad to find this chatter as most folks know nothing of these bikes and I have absolutely loved mine.


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## ru4_nyy (Jun 28, 2011)

awesome info. thanks!


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## ru4_nyy (Jun 28, 2011)

Sales Brochure and info.

Everything Bicycles - : 1975 Vita Sprint Bicycles from France: Catalogs and Brochures-Contemporary


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