Cycling UK Forum

Cusqueno wrote:

StellaLdn. wrote:Incidentally, I've signed up for the Prudential Ride in London the weekend 3/4 August. Not the 100 race, but the led tour from Crouch End. It's only 7 miles, but gotta start somewhere, right? At least I can't get lost on it.

I've also signed up to marshal the Pru Ride. I did it a couple of times when it was the Sky Ride and it was good fun, even when wet. Interesting to ride London Streets temporarily blocked off from all motorised traffic.

Perhaps we could have a Viscount contingent there? I will certainly be riding a Viscount (or Lambert) - which one depends on the weather!

I intend to be there on the Aerospace Sport. I've done the Sky Ride three times. It's hardly ideal for cycling, but I love riding in Central London with zero motor traffic!

As for the waterproof issue: how often should I service the BB once it's done, every year? Every five years, ten? How many times do you service yours? Surely, the less one tempers with the shell, the better?

They are supposed to be sealed bearings. I've never serviced mine, they've been replaced twice in the past 34 years.
And I agree that the less often you hammer bearings in and out of the shell, the better. They are a tight fit.


Danny

Hi Sooper8

That Viscount looks very familiar - even the dirt on the rear hub! My Aerospace Sport has a 22.5" frame, perhaps yours is the same.

The only noticeable difference between mine (when I bought it) and yours is that mine has brazed-on cable guides but doesn't have brazed-on pump pegs.

On the subject of chromed forks, I tried getting some of the muck of mine at the weekend, and used masking tape to protect the paintwork at the join. But when I removed the tape, some of the paint came with it, and exposed (much brighter) chrome underneath. Has anyone ever found touch-up paint that comes near to matching the original colour? Because I haven't.

Anyway, you have a fine bike there. Definitely worth fettling up.

busaste wrote:

Sooper8 wrote:Hi All,

After my son bought the Aerospace Pro, he wanted another little Viscount project on the go just for fun...

So, he just picked this up for pocket money and is hoping to restore. (seller's pic, we don't have the bike yet)

I far as I can see, nothing os original except the frame. What model would it have been?

Cheers!

You have a VERY original 1978 Viscount Aerospace Sport .

All the parts on it are the original ones (wonder what happened to the wheels?!). The front lamp boss is missing off the forks but that is all. If you look back on this forum to some of my earlier posts you will see that I have the same model in the same colour. If you PM me with your email address I will send you some high res pics so you can see what the full spec is.

It looks a lot like my 1978 Aerospace Sport (see photo on page 5 of this thread). The lamp boss is still there, I can see it! The front mech looks like my Shimano 600, although the photo isn't very clear. The chrome on the forks seems amazingly clean for a bike of that age.

Bendo wrote:There's not much in the way of tyres in 27" (ISO 630) these days. I'm assuming that's the kind of wheel your Viscount has. If so, the most common size around is 27x 1&1/4 inches. 1.25in translates as almost 32mm, which is a respectably wide tyre by road bike standards, but not so wide as to ruin the look of your bike. It also depends on what you bike's frame will be able to fit. On an Aerospace frame, because the chain-stays are relatively thick and have no "pinch" on the inside near the chain-stay bridge, the widest they can fit is 1 & 1/4 anyway and that's only with about 1mm to spare on either side (any buckle in the wheel or even a badly seated tyre and you've got rubbing!). Your frame might have more clearance, you'd have to check. My favourite tyre is the Panaracer Pasela Tour Guard.

OTOH if your bike has 700C wheels then the world's your oyster.

b

Hmm. I have an Aerospace Sport with 27 x 1-1/4 inch tyres, and I have considerably more clearance than that - I'd say at least 5 mm each side. Having said that, the rims (original) were made for this size tyre and I don't know how well they would take to wider ones.

busaste wrote:The absence of circlips on the Klein spindle is not a problem. A special 'glue' is applied to the spindle and outer face of the inner race of the sealed cartridge bearings whilst it is being driven (or preferably pulled) through the bearings. After about 24 hours the glue 'circlips' have fully cured and the bike is ready to ride. Klein recommended Loctite RC680 at the time for their spindles but this is no longer available. I used Bondloc 638 simply because it was available from my local bearing factors. Hear is some information on it: http://www.bearingshopuk.co.uk/bondloc- ... 9025-p.asp

I'll be honest - when I carried out a similar job on my Aerospace Sport earlier this year, I decided to forego the glue. I had so much trouble removing the old spindle, and the new one was such a close fit, that I decided it wasn't really worth while. There isn't much room for lateral movement anyway, because I'm using a 109mm spindle with a modern chainset, although of course I don't ever want the cranks to butt up against the bearings.

The only problems I've encountered since are with the front derailleur needing adjustment to cope with a larger chainring. The new chainset is 53T/39T compared with the old 50T/40T, and the bigger size gap seems to be close to the limit for a Shimano 600 rear mech as well.

I use the bike for commuting, 11 miles round trip two or three times a week. I still get a kick out of it. The chrome has lost all its shine, some of the dirt is so ingrained that It will never come off, but in my eyes it looks almost as good as Bendo's restored beauty.

My LBS (F W Evans) advised against tapping out the BB shell to take a threaded cartridge - they considered it would weaken the shell and "it was a shame to spoil such a nice frame". So I found a Klein BB spindle on eBay of the right length for my new chainset, and fitted that in place of the original spindle, as recounted in my earlier posts.. The only cycle maintenance I've ever done that consisted almost entirely of hammering

I've now fitted aero brake levers - not because I particularly wanted to, but I couldn't find replacements for the worn and perished rubber hoods on the original Shimano Tourney levers. I find these levers more comfortable and easier to reach when braking, so no complaints. The main thing is that I'm riding again, and my Aerospace Sport is once again in regular use. It's a great bike!

DannytheLuddite wrote:Hi busaste

Thanks for once more coming up with a detailed and helpful answer. After reading it, I went back and measured the BB spindle and, sure enough, the RH side projects 28.5mm but the LH side projects only 25.5mm. Maybe that is why I also have an iffy right knee...

So I am now thinking that if possible I ought to leave the existing BB alone - there is after all nothing wrong with it. My quest was for an 7/8 speed double chainset that (a) fits on a square taper spindle and (b) has a small chainring with no more than 40 teeth and (c) doesn't look completely out of place on a 1970s bike. The one I bought, a Shimano Sora 3300, met those criteria but is hopelessly out of line on a 122mm spindle. It has to be a 7 or 8 speed chainset because I'm now running a 7-speed freewheel and matching chain, and on two or three occasions the chain has dropped between the two chainrings and jammed there - not good. Plus the chainrings are worn, and generally don't go very well with a new narrow chain. Perhaps I'll just keep watching on eBay and see if anything better comes up.

If you want to know how the story ends, I eventually found a 108mm Klein chro-moly spindle on eBay. (I wanted 110mm, but I reckoned 1mm less each side was not going to make much difference.) I used a big hammer to knock out the old spindle and bearings, and a small hammer to tap in the replacements. The new bearings are lovely and smooth and, with the new chainset fitted, the chainline looks just about right.

When I removed the old spindle, I was surprised to see an F W Evans price sticker on it. So they must have replaced the spindle when I had them replace the bearings back in the early 1980s - I can't think why. It had circlip grooves but no circlips.

Latest picture:


Now I just need to get my knees sorted so I can ride it again

Hi busaste

Thanks for once more coming up with a detailed and helpful answer. After reading it, I went back and measured the BB spindle and, sure enough, the RH side projects 28.5mm but the LH side projects only 25.5mm. Maybe that is why I also have an iffy right knee...

So I am now thinking that if possible I ought to leave the existing BB alone - there is after all nothing wrong with it. My quest was for an 7/8 speed double chainset that (a) fits on a square taper spindle and (b) has a small chainring with no more than 40 teeth and (c) doesn't look completely out of place on a 1970s bike. The one I bought, a Shimano Sora 3300, met those criteria but is hopelessly out of line on a 122mm spindle. It has to be a 7 or 8 speed chainset because I'm now running a 7-speed freewheel and matching chain, and on two or three occasions the chain has dropped between the two chainrings and jammed there - not good. Plus the chainrings are worn, and generally don't go very well with a new narrow chain. Perhaps I'll just keep watching on eBay and see if anything better comes up.

My Aerosopace Sport has sealed bearings that are an interference fit in the bottom bracket shell. Does anyone know whether the shell can be threaded to take a modern sealed bearing cartridge?

Background: I managed to find a NOS 8speed chainset to replace the worn SR APEX chainset that was put on the bike many years ago, but found out too late that it is designed for a 110mm spindle. The original spindle is about 122mm, but I didn't realise until I'd removed the old chainset and tried to fit the new one.

I bought a ruby red Viscount Aerospace Sport in 1978, and I am still riding it. It has the beautifully finished lugless frame but came with redesigned half-chromed forks. The first thing I did was add proper mudguards and change the pedals (rat traps) and the saddle (I replaced it with the Brooks B17 from my previous bike).

Since then all kinds of parts have been replaced, some because they wore out and some because I just wanted something different. The bottom bracket bearing has been replaced once, but that was due to my own negligence in letting paraffin get into the "sealed" bearings.

I agree with a previous poster that the original gearing was not ideal. The last time I needed to replace the rear sprockets, I was delighted to discover that a modern 7-speed Shimano freewheel fits in place of the old 5-speed. The new narrow chain that goes with it is thin enough to drop between the two front chain wheels, but that has only happened to me once.

The saddle was replaced a couple of years ago (another B17! Is there another manufactured article that is still on sale a century after its introduction?), and I recently replaced the front centre-pull brake with a Shimano dual-pivot model because I was concerned about the braking efficiency of the old one.

This is what it looks like these days.


Danny