On March 14th, 2009, I posted an article on the various classic steel framed Bertins. In that post, I mentioned that in the 1980′s, Bertin also offered for sale Vitus produced aluminum framed bicycles branded with the Cycles Bertin logo and graphics. Those models roughly paralleled the steel framed bicycles and were available with a variety of European or Shimano grouppos.
While browsing online, I came across a photo of a Bertin Vitus 979 bicycle for sale on a French site. I thought that I would include the picture here as an example of the graphics and presentation of the Vitus model.
Bertin Vitus 979
bador- vitus 979′s were made available from bertin in both the standard round tube 979 duralinox tubing as well as the hex shaped “lozenge” tubeset versions. graphics thruout the period were most commonly the foil style decaling as seen on my wife’s 1981 c-70 ie-without ‘vitus’ markings as vitus had their own distribution .my recollections come as a long time friend & former employee of ron thompson of inertia,inc., the sole us bertin distributor from approx 1980-1989.
Ken-
Thanks for the insight on the earlier North American distribution of Vitus/Bertin alloy framesets. The graphics package obviously differed for later European bikes such as in the photo.
Jim
I have a schwinn bertin racing bike in a cherry red color that i got from my uncle, i have been combing the internet for months trying to find out more about it when i saw a sticker that said A. Bertin and i plugged it in and thats how i found this blog
I purchased my VITUS in early 1980′s in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada…. Similar to the one on the picture – Silver color.
Still today it is riding perfectly like a swiss watch… now my son is using it for hockey training…
Best one I ever tried and used during my days of training.
Guy Boisvert
Guy,
Thanks very much for the insight on an interesting part of your cycling history.
Jim
Bonjour ,
Je souhaite acheter neuf un cadre Vitus 979 taille 52 en hauteur de cadre.
Pouvez-vous me donner des adresses de distributeurs , de vendeurs sur Paris ou ailleurs ?
Merci
Cordialemnt
G CHAMBON
Hi, if there’s any way to find a Bertin 54 -53 frame and fork please let me know, need to be shipped to Fl, USA …thkx
Hi, Luis-
The best way to find a Bertin frameset would be through EBay, leboncoin or Craigslist. Search those regularly and you should be able to locate what you need.