Viscount bicycles!!

[PW]

Busaste, in passing, the Falcon Super Tourist did have a Positron rear mech. My mate had one, I used to service it for him. Blue, 531 plain gauge, single chainwheel, flat bars, can't remember if it was a 5 or compact 6.

[Goldie]

It seems to be Viscount Week on ebay this week - anyone fancy any of these? They are all a little to far away for me, although I am serisouly tempted by the gold Corsair Wayfarer. It would e nice to see them go to good homes:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RETRO-VISCOUNT-RA ... 3cb506dd2e

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Retro-Racing-Bike ... 2a0e044e6f

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/vintage-retro-vis ... 20b7279d34

[Lixman73]

I have a viscount tony Doyle replica white and red. I've had it since I was 14 or 15 I think. I'm 38 now! I believe it is early 80s. Still on original cassette and rings but front inner worn out now and losing teeth its reasonably light but very tall gearing makes it hard work! Thought about making it a single speed??

[Goldie]

Stick some photos up! My first "racer" was a tiny 16 inch framed white and red Viscount, complete with the KP Crisps sponsor stickers. It'd be brilliant to see some shots of yours.

[Bendo]

Thinking of making some t-shirts. Here's a prelim design. The Aerospace typeface is rough because it's taken from a photo of the chainstay decal (on the bike! If you look hard you can make out the cylindrical shape of the letters.) which I imported into Illustrator and then turned into a vector graphic. So it smooths things out a touch but there's still some of the rough edges. Perhaps I should wait until I can scan some brand new flat decals... b

[busaste]

Thinking of making some t-shirts. Here's a prelim design. The Aerospace typeface is rough because it's taken from a photo of the chainstay decal (on the bike! If you look hard you can make out the cylindrical shape of the letters.) which I imported into Illustrator and then turned into a vector graphic. So it smooths things out a touch but there's still some of the rough edges. Perhaps I should wait until I can scan some brand new flat decals... b

Coooool. Like it.

I'll buy a T shirt! Please PM me when they are done.

[quiksilver]

I would buy one too, but would prefer it if it said VISCOUNT rather than AEROSPACE

[Argosy]

It's a bit hazy to me but I heard before of a Viking Lambert connection, here is a Viking Lambert bike using Aerospace tubing. Item number: 290535013753 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 3D1&_rdc=1

"Nice Red and white finish. Beautiful lug work. Not sure on the exact date of manufacture however this is a Lambert built Viking model after Viking was purchased by Lambert in 1972 and production was moved to Wolverhampton, England. Color and Component spec are nearly identical to a 1972 advertisement for Viking Cycles. The steel frame is constructed of "1027 Alloy Steel used in most jet aircraft this special drawn tubing is made to British standard aircraft to spec NO 3T50 and American aircraft spec no Mil-T-6736A. This ultralight tubing contains -manganese-silicon-molybdenum-chromium-carbon-sulphur-phosphorus."
"Handcrafted by Viking England""

[Argosy]

Viking Lambert Bike, Aerospace tubing, ebay Item number: 290535013753, nice but too costly by far. Unique but overvalued.

[Bendo]

I would buy one too, but would prefer it if it said VISCOUNT rather than AEROSPACE

Easily done! I just went for "Aerospace" as it's a bit more cryptic, and it's my favourite Viscount range. It's thing that set them apart. IMHO anyway. But wait til I get some decent decals and I'll do a Viscount version as well for all you poor chaps with lugged frames! hehe! b

[Goldie]

It's a bit hazy to me but I heard before of a Viking Lambert connection, here is a Viking Lambert bike using Aerospace tubing. Item number: 290535013753 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 3D1&_rdc=1

"Nice Red and white finish. Beautiful lug work. Not sure on the exact date of manufacture however this is a Lambert built Viking model after Viking was purchased by Lambert in 1972 and production was moved to Wolverhampton, England. Color and Component spec are nearly identical to a 1972 advertisement for Viking Cycles. The steel frame is constructed of "1027 Alloy Steel used in most jet aircraft this special drawn tubing is made to British standard aircraft to spec NO 3T50 and American aircraft spec no Mil-T-6736A. This ultralight tubing contains -manganese-silicon-molybdenum-chromium-carbon-sulphur-phosphorus."
"Handcrafted by Viking England""

I had absolutely no idea that the Viking name had done a spell in Lambert's ownership. Vikings are my other slightly deviant bike love. I am sitting next to my mid 70's Aerospace Pro and my '79 Viking Superstar 12 at the moment, and they couldn't be more different. I guess when Lambert sold Viking on, they will have wanted to retain all of the intellectual property involved in the bike - the alloy fork, cast pedals, all of the other Lambert specific parts - so for Viking's new owners, it must have been pretty much like starting from scratch. My Viking's got a completely traditional lugged steel frame with off the shelf parts from SR, Huret, Weinmann and GB. It also weighs 2kg more than the Viscount...

[quiksilver]

I would buy one too, but would prefer it if it said VISCOUNT rather than AEROSPACE

Easily done! I just went for "Aerospace" as it's a bit more cryptic, and it's my favourite Viscount range. It's thing that set them apart. IMHO anyway. But wait til I get some decent decals and I'll do a Viscount version as well for all you poor chaps with lugged frames! hehe! b

Or a SEBRING one possibly?

[david123]

I purchased a viscount corsair wayfarer in about 1984 it has a different frame to the earlier ones being lugged. Mine is a touring bike with 700c wheels,touring pannier rack, gold in colour,shimano 600 and toe clip pedals. It cost £180 at the time and I ride it 10 times a year and it is running fine. Anyone got any info.

[Bendo]

Finally found the edition of "Design" magazine I'd been hunting for. AFAIK there are no scans of this article anywhere on teh interwebs as yet. I've included the cover and a paid advert that Viscount-Trusty placed in the back of the mag to coincide with the article (I have every issue of this magazine from 1960 to 1980 and there are no other ads placed by Viscount in any of them).

Enjoy! b

http://tinyurl.com/4mvamwj

[Bendo]

One thing I just noticed is that the Aerospace Sport in the picture has the chromoly fork. I hadn't realised that the aluminium fork (see how I didn't use the term "death fork"? hehe) was only standard on the Pro. The Sport pictured also has Maxy cranks like mine but I wish I could see the chainrings. It looks like it's got the three pin where mine has the five pin. It also has centre-pull brakes (Viscount? Dia-Compe?) where mine came with sidepull Weinmanns. And by the look of that rear derailleur it has the long reach Titlist, not the racing Crane rear mech.

I'm always amazed by how many differences there were in factory spec components for the same bike. I wonder why that was. Like Busaste I wish I could find someone who used to work for Viscount-Trusty... b