jdwertz wrote:just bought my very first road bike to use for cross training during and after the swim season. So far I have put a few hundred miles on her. I am pretty new at this so I hoped you guys could help me out. I am pretty sure it needs new bearing and a crankset axle, as I have heard they are prone to failure. I found a good source of what to buy online, 123mm Shimano tapered Phil wood axle. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where I could buy this? I already found the proper bearings, I believe. Also need to be some new tires, popped one the other day
thanks!!
Nice Aerospace Pro which does not have its 'death fork'. The Phil Wood axles occasionally turn up on Ebay or try Harris Cyclery in PA. They are getting hard to find these days! Some thoughts on Viscount's BB axle:
What taper you choose depends on the crank you have or want to get. The Viscount crank will go on a JIS taper but it is
not easy to get it to sit square on the axle(see below). Probably better to stick with ISO taper if you have a Viscount crank to reuse.
Check this Viscount/Phil Wood conversion:
http://bikecult.com/works/parts/bbViscount.html Also there is another option. Have a look at this particularly the bit that says: "Cooks also make a press-in version for older Fat Chance or Klein frames, in fact Cooks is the only one to make a good aftermarket replacement for these" The weblink is:
http://www.bikepro.com/products/bottom_ ... cooks.html And here is another option:
http://www.bikepro.com/products/bottom_ ... white.html Here is another option:
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 151c003226 Also, old Klein spindles are still out there. I used one on one of my Aerospace Pros but it messed up the chainline when used in conjunction with offset chain rings (Shimano 600 'Arabesque'). The Klein is 123mm long, 17mm diameter and has a JIS taper. A nice quality part. Good for at least 100,000 miles but you do need to use a crank which has no chain ring offset e.g. Sugino Maxy, SR Apex and of course Viscount's own 'porthole' design.
This is the Loctite to use with a Klein BB spindle (there are no circlip grooves!):
http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Strength- ... B000FN0UPW Viscount actually made 4 different bottom bracket spindles for the Aerospace frames! The most commonly used spindle had an ISO taper and was recognizable by having 3 grooves machined in it (2 on one side). This spindle accepted Viscount cranks (TA copy, made in England by Copel Foundries) and very early Shimano, Sugino, SR Apex ones too, although getting the last three to sit square on the spindle is harder than building a space shuttle. Whilst drunk. I managed it by fully tightening up the crank/chain rings as normal, locating where it was not sat square and hitting it hard from the back of the chain rings to literally force it back into position, square on the crank. It took me an hour but it eventually sat just nice. If your Viscount has an original spindle with 2 machined grooves you have been lucky. That was intended for JIS taper cranks!!
You can have the BB shell tapped out to take an Italian thread. You can then fit a cartridge BB unit. Easy!!
Argos Cycles used to do a service which involved fitting an insert into the BB shell which was threaded enabling the fitment of an English thread BB or modern cartridge unit. Don't know if they still do it. A guy called Doug Pinkerton also does something similar. He can be contactd through the Veteran Cycle Club.
If you don't reuse the Viscount cranks and chain rings don't sell them. They are becoming quite collectible!
Hope all this helps.
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