Cycling UK Forum

Oh dear! One less Viscount I'm afraid. The seat tube on my Aerospace Pro came unbrazed, where it meets the bottom bracket shell, on the way to work this morning. Unless there's a good brazer out there, the frame's heading for the trophy wall (actually my garden fence). If there's a 23" / 60 cm fillet brazed Aerospace frame out there in search of a good home ...

Does Sooper8's theory explain the 'lambert bicycle as per photo no front forks', which has been on eBay UK for more than a year (I reckon), with no takers and the seller keeping the price the same (to be fair, I seem to recall it was originally GPB79.99)?
See http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lambert-bicycle-as-per-photo-no-front-forks-/221365571158?pt=UK_Collectables_Bicycle_RL&hash=item338a6a8e56#ht_278wt_1048

Sooper8 wrote:And thinking about it, I must be officially a tight ass, as I wouldn't pay that much for those hf hubs, even though I like the look.

I had a wrestle with my conscience over the black hubs. I know they seemed over-priced and they are scratched, but they do look nice. Just right for my Dura Ace equipped Viscount. But I didn't buy and they didn't sell. So the seller re-lists at GBP10 MORE than before. Strange.

Cusqueno wrote:Riding my Viscount back from the park after taking my son to football, I realised I was a bit inaccurate about Viscount's use of SunTour. The Tulsa GL I once owned came with a SunTour Honor RD, SunTour Spirt FD (no, really) and SunTour stem shifters.

And now there is this 'Sport' on eBay with Simplex RD, FD and shifters:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161215722212&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_63wt_1058
It's possible that this was made for the French market, particularly as it is at present resident in Southampton. There are persistent, but infrequent, mentions of French Viscounts - perhaps this is one? The RD looks like a Prestige LJ (LJ4000), which was considered (by Simplex) to be quite good. See Disraeli Gears http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Simplex_Prestige_LJ_derailleur_%28LJ4000%29.html
I can't make out what chainset it has, doesn't look very good. And the bike looks as though it has been savagely whipped around the head tube. Apart from that, quite nice for a non-aerospace frame.

sprockit wrote:Has anyone on here acquired the 3-speed Pullman from York?

It's disappeared!

Sprockit

Aha! The case of the vanishing express train. This is one for Poirot.

We could start a simple register of Viscounts (and Lamberts) to see if a pattern emerges. Something like: model (if known); frame number; any indication of date of manufacture. If the bike has good, alloy components by Shimano or SunTour, there should be date codes to discover. It would be nice to list original equipment fitted and colour, but that might be too ambitious to start with.

Riding my Viscount back from the park after taking my son to football, I realised I was a bit inaccurate about Viscount's use of SunTour. The Tulsa GL I once owned came with a SunTour Honor RD, SunTour Spirt FD (no, really) and SunTour stem shifters.

Harking back to earlier posts, I think that quite a lot of Lamberts were shipped with Simplex RDs. Not sure of the model, but c1973 it was probably a version of the Prestige. One with plenty of plastic and with the red side panel. Or at least I have seen those on Lamberts on eBay, all I think in the US. This would be after Lambert had abandoned their own design. On the other hand I have a 'bert with a fillet brazed frame which came to me with a SunTour Honor RD. I can't say if this was originally fitted, but it could have been. It's effective, but all steel and a bit clunky as well as heavy. At some point I'll probably swap it for a SunTour V-Luxe that I have. I agree that the V-series RDs are very nice indeed.
It seems quite rare for Viscounts to vary from Shimano derailleurs, but it must have happened. Or perhaps bike shops swapped them out according to their own or their customers' peferences.

Lewisg wrote:New Old Stock. I figured the price might be deemed too high but I couldn't let them get away. Won't tell you what my highest bid was!

Well done! I had the bars queued to be sniped, but dropped out when the price went too high for me. So we didn't compete.

I see the Pullman is back on eBay. Will someone bite the bullet this time? As was hinted earlier, the parts would be worth £55 or more.

StellaLdn. wrote:

petethetrike wrote:Stella,my Aerospace Pro was ridden to and from work via a track used by sheep,across a gated level crossing through the best of the worst of the winter.
It was a ritual to clean the droppings from under the mud guards several times a day! Bearing in mind I was working shifts,and some journeys were at 5am, and others at 10.30pm.
I do remember a few wonderful evenings with the Hale Bopp comet in the late evening sky whilst cycling home and hoping to get to the village pub before it closed.
Happy times,ish!!!
Cheers,
Pete.

Uh, so they're fit for off-road then? Not really a fan of doing it with a Viscount, particularly not with my shiny new one, but it's my favourite bike at the moment due to it being a great ride and perfect fit. I feel one with this bike, so I take it everywhere. If I could I'd probably take it to bed, too.

I recollect that Busaste has told me that, back in the day, there was a Viscount cyclo-cross team. Or at least that they were used for c-c. Complete with death forks(!)

Stella, you must start wearing a helmet-mounted video camera to record these brief Viscount /Lambert encounters for later analysis.

I have read this thread with interest as someone who does most of my cycling in London, where there are many ASZs. I was surprised to read that it is illegal for cyclists to enter except at the near side. This seems crazy as these are frequently blocked when the junction is busy by cyclists trying to get into a zone that is full of other cyclists or motor vehicles. Incidentally, motor cyclists are often the worst offenders. I am not sure if they think they are allowed to use ASZs (which they are not), but the fact that many pass other traffic waiting at lights to stop in front of the line even in the absence of an ASZ (as I observe), suggests that it is arrogance or stupidity or both. (OT, but do you find motor cyclists to be the most foul-mouthed people on the road?)
When entering an ASZ to make a right turn, I indicate and pull over to the centre before entering the zone. It is often very difficult to get into the right position starting from the nearside of the zone if it is blocked and what happens if the lights change while you are across the front of the queue of other traffic? I will continue to use ASZs, following the law as far as possible, but with due regard to my safety (first) and the convenience of other road users (second).

Hi, and welcome to the thread.
I can kick off with a few (I hope helpful) comments. Althought the Viscount hub (that you have here) has cartridge bearings (i.e. the ball bearings press in as units, rather than being put together with separate cups, cones & balls), this doesn't make much difference when putting the hub together - it should just be a bit simpler. There is a quick release 'skewer'; which means that eventually everything is held firmly to the frame by the thin thru-axle rod with the lever on the end. All the other bits fitted to the hub go INSIDE the frame. So, on your first photo, the bits labelled 2, 4 and 3 go up against the bearing, with the spacer marked 2 going on first. I think the other side is ok. The nuts labelled 4 & 3 are lock nuts and must be tightened against each other, in conjunction with the nut(s) on the drive side, so that there is no play in the axle but equally no excessive end-loading on the bearings. The wheel should then fit into the drop outs. The distance over the lock nuts is (not surprisingly) called the over lock nut distance (OLN) and should be the same as the distance between the drop outs - which will probably be 120mm or 125mm on your Viscount - and the wheel rim should end up equidistant between the chain stays and seat stays (the parts of the rear triangle that carry the wheel), although it can be difficult to judge this - try pushing the axle right up to the end of the drop outs so that it must be square to the bike. It's important that the ends of the axle do not stick out beyond the drop outs, otherwise the Q/R will not hold the wheel tight. It might be necessary to move the wheel along the axle or even to saw a bit off (the latter only likely if the axle has been changed).
Incidentally, a bit of terminology, the group of cogs is a screw-on freewheel, often called a 'block'. 'Cassette' is usually reserved for modern systems where there is a separate freehub with splines that the cogs fit on. I hope that you have the bit that screws on the block end of the skewer. If not, it's quite easy to get one from a replacement skewer (genuine Viscount ones might be harder to get).
Hope this helps.

The late, great Sheldon Brown has some explanations and useful tables of tyre (tire) and wheel sizes here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Whippet wrote:Looking at the bands on the seat tube, could this be a Viscount?

Did you get all this from the rather blurry (at least on my phone) photo or is there a better one somewhere? I must admit I couldn't stand watching the whole interview. Perhaps someone should tweet the question and hope Hammond picks it up?