Cycling UK Forum

willem jongman wrote:This looks like mine, including all the visible parts (although mine has clinchers but these seem like they may be tubes, and mine had a standard TA chainwheel), only the paint accents on mine are black rather than blue. I bought mine in late 1976 or early 1977, but I think it had been in the shop for a while. SInce mine had the TA chainwheels, I guess yours is just a bit older.
Willem

And the wheels too, believe mine are Birmalux and the same.

As to saying the chainwheels probably makes his older, that's an educated guess. Lots of overlap when they make these bikes to make a perfect timeline. I had one of the corrective 'safe' forks in mine made by Yamaha but that kind of a crank.

Thanks chaps. I've been going through the box of bits that came with the frame and wheel and I seem to have most things, but two noticeable bits that are missing are the chromed clips that hold the rear brake cable in place along the top tube and - slightly more vitally- the ball bearings from the headset. I'd be grateful for a close up photo or any information as to who made the clips and anyone that could tell me what size bearing I need for the headset would be straight to the top of my Christmas card list...

The headset on my Aerospace was a Tange which used standard 1/4" balls. Nothing special and the alloy locknut stripped its thread in double quick time, but once I replaced that it wasn't any bother.

Came across this site and thread totally by accident. However, great to see a thread on the Viscount bikes. For what it’s worth, I bought a new Grand Sport Aerospace in 1979 for about £150 which seemed like a lot of money at the time. However, it seemed well specced with Shimano 600, Mavic, TA etc and the lugless frame looked so good compared to the other bikes in the shop. I couldn’t believe it when I first rode it, after my old work hack it was like the chariot of the gods. Only got rid of it around 2003 and it was still all working fine then. It had gone through a number of home resprays and equipment changes over the years and ended up with a mixture of Shimano, Campag and Brooks etc and having gained concealed cable type brake levers in the 90’s. I also filed off the mudguard eyes at some point to make it look a bit more “racy”
I changed the bottom bracket bearings a couple of times but along the way, a set had seized at some point and the BB axle had continued to turn in these and had thus worn a bit. A good glug of high strength Loctite on the axle when I replaced the bearings did the trick. The wheel bearings had a similar sealed system to the BB but I never had any problem with these.
One of the problems later in its life was getting decent tyres for the 27” Mavics. I toyed with fitting 700C’s but there was already a lot of clearance with the 27’s.
I will search out some pictures, I have fond memories of that bike. Out of interest, I bought the bike from a shop in Park Gate on the A27 to Southampton. I was living in Locks Heath at the time and the shop was at the top of my road.

Perhaps it's got to do with advancing years or something but I sat down and googled "Aerospace Pro" this morning. I'd been getting nostalgic about my old bike for some strange reason and, to be honest, I couldn't recall what brand it was. I'd forgotten it was a Viscount!! So it was wonderful to come across this forum. I bought mine in 1976 from my LBS and rode to college every day on it, about 50 miles round trip. I never knew about the "death fork" and my Pro and I had numerous accidents together, without any breakage. My worst memory is of riding along and the tyre going into a storm water grate that had been put in the wrong way. The bike stopped dead and the frame and I carried on in a radial motion hitting the roadway (me first). Or there was the time the woman flung her car door open without looking. I braked hard and went flying through her (fortunately open) window. She didn't even apologise. But the best time we spent together was when I cycled from Sydney to Melbourne with a mate. He had some crazy idea to go this way that took us through mountainous territory where the road turned to dust and gravel. We had a great time and the bike never faltered. It was light and easy to ride, with fantastic handling. I had to sell it in the early '80s and so ended a great friendship. I wonder where it is now? (I also sometimes wonder where my great cycling physique went too, but that's another story!!)

I remember my worst "off" on my Viscount very well. I had a largish light clamped to the front forks, and with these being tapered, it was easy for vibration to loosen the clamp which suddenly became very loose. I was hurtling down a hill to work one evening when the lamp came loose and swung round into the front wheel, merrily stripping out spokes as it went. I'm not sure if the sudden deceleration or lack of front spokes caused my irreversible journey over the handlebars to the waiting tarmac, but I still bear a scar from that little adventure some 30 years ago!

For some reason, this chap makes a big deal about a technical aspect of the chainwheels over at VeloSpace calling it the 50.4 BCD Cluster, Cluster must be when you lump a bunch of bikes under some classification. I understand what he is saying but all that Bolt Diameter stuff let's say I'm not real familiar with on a working basis.

Not too flattering what he says: but so be it:

Description: "This cluster is for all bikes using the 50.4 BCD spiderless cranksets, where the outer ring attaches to the crankarm through five bolts at 50.4mm BCD. This style of crankset goes back as far as the '20s, and was used in both cottered and cotterless cranks for its wide range of chainrings (26-64T in the standard TA range, with rings up to 100T for special builds). TA, Stronglight 49, Sugino PX, Velo Orange, the freakshow Lambert, single/double/triple/quadruple rings; look for five bolts right in tight around the bottom bracket spindle."- http://velospace.org/viewcluster?c=675

"Freakshow Lambert??"

But as they say, any publicity is good publicity, crikey, Sugino nowadays and Sugino since the '80s, probably '70s, Sugino is really everywhere and nothing very unique but of course, a great chainring/crank, lots of power to it I'd say.

Trying to figure out which year/model it is. At this point I think it's a 1976 Viscount Aerospace Sport, blue with white instead of red with white. Here's my thread over on C&V on BF. I will be cleaning it up some tonight and this weekend and post pictures there (may put some up here too).

The specs are as follows:
Front/Rear Rim: Super-Sport, Made in Italy, Nisi-Evian, Light Alloy 27x1-1/4
Front/Rear Hub: Viscount High Flange w/ Viscount Quick Release Scewer
Front Fork: Death Fork (Not checked to see if it's #1, #2, or #3 yet - Viscount Collectors Know what I mean, I do not intend to ride it)
Front/Rear Brake: Viscount Center Pull
Lambert Brake Levers w/ Dia-Compe Hoods
Shimano Clamp on Front Deraileur, Actual Deraileur inscribed "Thunder Bird"
Shimano Titlist Rear Deraileur
Frame is White & Blue, it is not a Lugged Frame
On the bottom frame, under the bottom bracket is stamped: "3037 EB"
It also has the circular cutout crank so popular among the Viscount bicycles.
It has the Viscount Pedals, one however has a missing Viscount Button.
The seat is not original (dept store sticker on the bottom of it)
It has a verticle seat post tube that tapers with a Dule Made in France adapter for Road Seats.
Tires: Made in Japan, Special High Pressure Tire, 85 PSI

Goldie wrote:Right, here we go. A fair bit of the bike is still in a cardboard box in the cellar, but I stuck the frame, fork and wheels together so I could move it and stand it up without scratching the paint! It was, it's fair to say, love at first sight:

You have a Viscount Aerospace Pro of 1975 - 1976 vintage. It looks like the 'Aerospace Pro' sticker is missing from the top frame tube. I can get you these if you need them. The blue paint highlights on the frame were on those Aerospace Pro's fitted with wheels for tubs. 'Pro's with black paint highlights on the frame were fitted with wheels for clinchers. All other parts were the same. The Viscount Aerospace Pro first appeared in 1974 and always was Viscount's top of the range model until its demise in 1979. The first 1974 models can be identified by their quick release wheel skewers with 'Lambert' on and 'Lambert' was usually stamped in the middle of the wheel hubs. However this was not always the case! Interestingly, your 'Pro appears to have clinchers which makes me wonder if the factory turned the odd one out like this in response to customer demand.

The 'Pro was a very successful race bike in its day being used extensively by the Coventry Olympic Viscount race tam managed by Mick 'Iron Legs' Ives.

Even though yours is missing some of its parts it still looks fantastic!

By the way, I have a Aerospace pro frame for sale at the moment on the forum if any one is interested.

As the person who started this thread it is so pleasing to see all the interest generated in Viscounts. I never imagined it would run and run like this. 11 pages of posts so far!!!!!!!!

Long live the Viscounts...

Here's some photos from the one I picked up off of craigslist. I think it's a 1976 Aerospace Sport??? Please confirm. Thanks!
Photobuket link, click view slideshow

Bheleu wrote:Here's some photos from the one I picked up off of craigslist. I think it's a 1976 Aerospace Sport??? Please confirm. Thanks!
Photobuket link, click view slideshow

.....

Are the brake hoods embossed with "Carlton" on them? They are great brake hoods as I have some on one bike but did not come with the bike but probably more durable.

Also, as for the fork, I had one that appeared like the Death fork but once we got it out, the steering column part attracted a magnet, so it was one of the Yamaha revised fork and NOT a death fork as it had steel in it per the above shown page.

Bheleu wrote:Here's some photos from the one I picked up off of craigslist. I think it's a 1976 Aerospace Sport??? Please confirm. Thanks!
Photobuket link, click view slideshow

Hi

You have a Viscount Aerospace GP of 1974 - 1976 vintage. Looks to be VERY original too. Saddle, brake blocks and brake hoods (the originals were unbranded British made 'half' hoods) appear to be the only non original parts! The frame is missing its down tube and top tube stickers. I think I have originals of these if you are interested. Provenance of these is 100% original. I got them off the man who designed them - Rex Martin, a former Viscount employee.

I suspect yours is an earlier GP because it has the Copal Foundries made deep drop Maes pattern handle bars which were soon phased out.

What a gorgeous bike!!!

Watch those 'V' branded pedal dust caps don't come out! You would be amazed how many just fall out. Finding replacement ones is nigh on impossible too. It is very rare to see a Viscount with its pedal dust caps still in place.

Thanks Busaste! I thought (and hoped) it was an Aerospace Pro. It has Lambert quick release skewers on the wheels, the hubs are engraved "Vscount" rather than Lambert and they're laced to alloy Weinmann rims - I haven't deflated a tyre to check whether they're tubs or not yet.

I'm building this up with the aim of making it my main road road, and I want to keep it as close to the spec listed in the catalogue included elsewhere in this thread as possible.

I've started to clean and polish in earnest, and collect missing bits and bobs - I've got new cloth bar tape, inner and outer cables, chrome cable ties, toe clips and Fibrax brake blocks. You might be able to see from the pictures that the decals that seperate the blue band on the seatpost from the silver base colour are worn on my bike. If anyone has any of these, I'd be really pleased to here from you. Ditto the half hoods for the brakes.

I'm torn as to whether to add the Aerospace Pro stickers - on one hand, I'd like to let people know what the bike is, but on the other it doesn't apear to have had them previously, and I'd thinking keep it original.

Anyway, here's a photo of the bike as it is currently. Frame has been cut and polished, as have the rims, hubs, forks and stem. The Crane derailleur has cleaned up beautifully with a squirt of degreaser - it really is a beautiful looking thing, especially compared with the more modern Shimano derailleurs that've passed through my hands (SIS )

Goldie wrote:Thanks Busaste! I thought (and hoped) it was an Aerospace Pro. It has Lambert quick release skewers on the wheels, the hubs are engraved "Vscount" rather than Lambert and they're laced to alloy Weinmann rims - I haven't deflated a tyre to check whether they're tubs or not yet.

I'm building this up with the aim of making it my main road road, and I want to keep it as close to the spec listed in the catalogue included elsewhere in this thread as possible.

I've started to clean and polish in earnest, and collect missing bits and bobs - I've got new cloth bar tape, inner and outer cables, chrome cable ties, toe clips and Fibrax brake blocks. You might be able to see from the pictures that the decals that seperate the blue band on the seatpost from the silver base colour are worn on my bike. If anyone has any of these, I'd be really pleased to here from you. Ditto the half hoods for the brakes.

I'm torn as to whether to add the Aerospace Pro stickers - on one hand, I'd like to let people know what the bike is, but on the other it doesn't apear to have had them previously, and I'd thinking keep it original.

Anyway, here's a photo of the bike as it is currently. Frame has been cut and polished, as have the rims, hubs, forks and stem. The Crane derailleur has cleaned up beautifully with a squirt of degreaser - it really is a beautiful looking thing, especially compared with the more modern Shimano derailleurs that've passed through my hands (SIS )

Hi

I have new and original Aerospace Pro (my LAST set), seat tube band and crank arm stickers (yours appear to be missing - see below).

.

Yours for £12 plus postage.

Your bike will definitely have had the Aerospace Pro stickers on the top tube. It's surprising how many old Viscounts have lost them. But then again, perhaps it is not a surprise as they were unlacquerd and easily caught by the legs when you are up on the bars pedaling hard.