Viscount bicycles!!

[Bendo]

Sorry about the double post. If there's a moderator around maybe they could nuke it.

More pics, this time half-built:





Original front mech. Done 35 years good service.



DA sidepulls. Worked out why they don't reach by checking properly, ie mounting them on a Viscount aluminium fork (not just doing by sight). Then double checked the Supabike brochure and sure enough, the pads are at the bottom of their reach. b

[DannytheLuddite]

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.

[dnrc]

Thought i'd give you a quick update on my aerospace seeing as i've just now finished it.

I originally had an aero stem and bars on it but found they weren't brilliant for my intended use for the bike which is pottering around the city going to the shops and the pub. The aero ones were too far out front and made the steering heavy, not good when riding in traffic.

So I got a normal stem and bars, I've also kitted it out for winter with some mudguards etc.

[Bendo]

Are they those same pink forks? What finish is on them now?

Not sure that the contrasting yellow statement is to my taste, but the bike itself certainly looks good. Nice and clean and straight. Hopefully that bar set up improves the handling.

You don't want to sell the old lugged stem it came with do you...?

b

[dnrc]

I sold the old stem ages back when I bought the aero bars to help pay for the refurb. Wish I hadn't now!

They are the forks it came with. I attacked them with nitromors then went for a diy job with rattle cans, several coats of primer/silver/lacquer and I got a pretty good finish.

I was looking for mudguards on ebay and found those SKS Bluemels in yellow and decided to go for a fun, bright (garish!) approach. Added some fizik microtex in yellow too.

The guards were a bit of a pain. there isn't really enough clearance under the rear brake bridge so i had to leave out the support there and the chain stay brace isn't drilled so i still need to sort that out.

Your bike's looking nice now. Should be good when it's finished.

Mine's ended up tidier than I originally intended. It was bought for popping to town and as something I didn't need to worry about. It's ended up tidier that I imagined. I went overboard on buying new bits really!

[Bendo]

I sold the old stem ages back when I bought the aero bars to help pay for the refurb. Wish I hadn't now!

They are the forks it came with. I attacked them with nitromors then went for a diy job with rattle cans, several coats of primer/silver/lacquer and I got a pretty good finish.

I was looking for mudguards on ebay and found those SKS Bluemels in yellow and decided to go for a fun, bright (garish!) approach. Added some fizik microtex in yellow too.

The guards were a bit of a pain. there isn't really enough clearance under the rear brake bridge so i had to leave out the support there and the chain stay brace isn't drilled so i still need to sort that out.

Your bike's looking nice now. Should be good when it's finished.

Mine's ended up tidier than I originally intended. It was bought for popping to town and as something I didn't need to worry about. It's ended up tidier that I imagined. I went overboard on buying new bits really!

Bummer about the stem! Oh well. I keep meaning to sell some stuff to pay for new stuff and I just seem to hold onto it all!

I was going to go for Bluemels mudguards too but knew about the lack of clearance and that's why I chose the Honjos. You can solve the problem of no chainstay mounting point by getting an SKS mounting clip like this:



You'll just have to buy another bike as your "beater". Your Viscount's too nice! b

[busaste]

This is turning out to be Aerospace Sport month! I've finished my Aerospace Sport . There are lots of NOS parts on it and I added a bit of bling by polishing the wheel hubs, bar stem and bars. I couldn't resist putting Shimano Dura Ace stuff on too. The frame is off a 1978 Aerospace Pro hence the Suntour rear drop outs. The bike is a mix really of OEM and none standard parts. I've built it up how I would like Viscount to have done it! Now I have an Aerospace Sport which I can ride without hurting my back! If you double click on the picture it will open up a larger version of it although the resolution is low.

For some reason the bike justs sits a bit high at the back: over long seat stays brazed in?! Bike is great to ride though. Smooth, light and very responsive. Dura Ace derailleurs are superb. The BB spindle is the 125mm long Klein jobbie with 'glue' circlips! It works perfectly and best of all the NOS SR Apex chainset sits perfectly square on it. Each pedal is exactly the same distance from the centre of the seat tube. Although in the true style of these things I cannot feel any difference with my other Viscounts which have the OEM asymmetrical BB spindle

[PW]

What is the freewheel Busaste? I thought for a second it was a Suntour Alpine 14-38 but on closer inspection it looks like a 14-34 with the two largest sprockets having teeth spaced at 1". I've heard of something similar but I've never seen one in the flesh before.

[Bendo]

Oooooh! Crane GS! That's a nice bit of kit. Much better than the very similar Tourney long cage. Is it NOS? It would have set you back a bit.

The rest of the bike looks lovely, especially the polished bits. Oh and I'm a bit jealous of the nice Suntour dropouts and axle adjusters. That's the one area where my Sport is lacking.

Still, can't complain. Finally assembled my bike tonight and took it for a quick ride. What can I say? Shimano wanted to make something that equalled Super Record and in the process created something incredible. And of course the frame sings. Which you can actually hear because the bike is so incredibly quiet. b

[Whippet]

I love this thread,slightly geeky but full of fond memories. Quite a few bikes look similar to my 1975 Viscount International which ended up with 10 gears and chrome forks.

[busaste]

What is the freewheel Busaste? I thought for a second it was a Suntour Alpine 14-38 but on closer inspection it looks like a 14-34 with the two largest sprockets having teeth spaced at 1". I've heard of something similar but I've never seen one in the flesh before.

The freewheel is an early 1970s Shimano 14 - 34 tooth job. It was an OEM fitment to the 1975 - 76 Aerospace Sport. I love the radical 'skip tooth' design on the largest two cogs. It makes for a slightly lighter freewheel and overall the chain shifting on it is pretty good.

When I was a lad we all had bikes - it was the equivalent of the xbox/PS/etc... One friend had a new Aerospace Sport which totally blew our minds. The skip tooth freewheel, ultra low first gear (we were all on a 48 tooth front chainring and 14 - 24 freewheels!), lugless frame, deep ruby red paintwork, Shimano components and sealed bearings seemed impossibly cool at the time! I wanted an Aerospace Sport so much it hurt (not sure I've grown out of that one!). Happy times!

[busaste]

Oooooh! Crane GS! That's a nice bit of kit. Much better than the very similar Tourney long cage. Is it NOS? It would have set you back a bit.

The rest of the bike looks lovely, especially the polished bits. Oh and I'm a bit jealous of the nice Suntour dropouts and axle adjusters. That's the one area where my Sport is lacking.

Still, can't complain. Finally assembled my bike tonight and took it for a quick ride. What can I say? Shimano wanted to make something that equalled Super Record and in the process created something incredible. And of course the frame sings. Which you can actually hear because the bike is so incredibly quiet. b

Thanks for you kind words. Yes the Crane GS is NOS. Infact the only things that aren't NOS on the bike are the frame, bars, stem and seatpost.

Your bike looks, surprise, surprise, awesome. Aerospace frame and Dura Ace parts. What more could you want?

I love the first generation Dura Ace groupset. Shimano really tried with this stuff. The build quality in particular is superb. The latest DA stuff is knowhere near as good. Collectors, bike snobs, sheep, etc. all head for ridiculously over priced Super Record. That's just fine by me because it means first gen. Dura Ace can be found for silly cheap prices. My NOS Dura Ace Crane GS, front derialleur, levers and cable guides cost me just £70. I've just recently bought NOS still in the box 1977 Dura Ace large flange hubs for £80. That's £40 less than it would cost me to buy a current Dura Ace cassette!

Your frame intrigues me because the rightside rear drop out has no bracket for the rear derailleur. I have never seen this before. I have over 4GB of Viscount pictures and not one of the hundreds of bikes has a rear dropout like this. The frame might be a very late Lambert one as they did not have an integral bracket in the dropout for the rear derailleur. Thing is though, all the Lambert frames had a brazed on bracket at the top of the seat tube for a pinch bolt. Maybe there was a derailleur hanger bracket was on your right drop out which at some point was cut/ground off.

[Whippet]

I love this thread. It's actually inspiring, I'm even thinking of restoring an old Viscount my self now ( something that never occured to me before ). I've remembered a few more details of the bike I had when at school. A 1975 / 76 Viscount International ( also remember it had something to do with Sebring as well ) with 5 speed Shimano ( 600 I think ). Within 30 seconds of owning it the little brazed lug on top of the bottom bracket that guides the gear cable pinged off, Slough Stowes where we bought it blamed me for not pedalling properly when changing gear so I ended up with a separate bolted on cable guide. My front fork snapped in half when an angry caretaker grabbed hold of my wheel and handlebars and shook them, this was no doubt my just punishment for being annoying. These days the guy would no doubt be imprisoned and I would have been offered counselling. I just kept quiet because I didn't want to be told of again for annoying adults. Presumably I must have had one of the "forks of death" mentioned in this thread, how cool!.

[Whippet]

PS Saving a search for "Viscount cycle" on eBay now.

[Goldie]

Are you in the North West whippet? This looks lovely to me, although you'd have to have top flight bartering skills to get that price down: http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/mens- ... e/92289556