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Post by Anthony Collett on Oct 1, 2013 12:23:26 GMT
I used to work for Trusty Viscount Bicycles Cranborne Rd. Potters Bar Herts. From 1979 until their closure in 1983. I used to work in the 'Toolroom/Maintenance' position & was responsible for all aspects of Cycle Production. I can tell you all you need to know about the Company. Please ask away!
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,391 
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Post by Jem on Oct 1, 2013 20:36:59 GMT
Welcome to the forum, and wonderful to have an ex-employee of the company!
I'm sure we'll have loads of questions for you...
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Post by sprockit on Oct 1, 2013 22:33:32 GMT
Hi Anthony, and welcome to the forum.
Do you really know what you're getting yourself into?!! You'll be more grilled than the bacon on a butty!!
I have a blue 5-speed Sport with a lugged frame, built during your time at the factory. It has a Japanese-made cottered crank, Shimano hubs that are dated over 18 months apart, and seems to be a budget bike with lots of posh parts - including the lovely Viscount bar end plugs, Shimano Tourney brake callipers, Dee-50 'suicide' brake levers, van Schothorst steel rims 27 x 1 1/4, Simplex derailleur, Bluemells 'Olympic' sports mudguards - and the most uncomfortable (Brooks) seat known to man!
The brake cables match the paint on the frame, and it has the 'V' head tube transfer, rather than the shield.
It rolls along very well, steers nicely, and is a pleasure to ride.
I'd guess it was built in 1982, and the only little foible it had was that the brake blocks couldn't be aligned with the rim using the original front callipers, so for safety reasons I've replaced them with shorter-reach Weinmann callipers.
Do you know if there was a systematic regime of numbering frames?
What other types of bottom bracket were fitted besides the famous threadless ones and the conventional one on my bike?
Hope you're happy to see the fruits of your labours still being ridden after all these years.
Regards, and again, welcome to the forum,
Sprockit
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Post by utedeej on Oct 2, 2013 12:08:56 GMT
One of the great wonders of the interweb is getting people together to pursue their passions. A very decent offer of you Anthony.
I've recently acquired a chrome Viscount Aerospace with black Shimano Dura Ace. I'm unsure if it was built during your time, but would love to know when they were originally built. Cheers
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Post by triitout on Oct 4, 2013 0:14:33 GMT
Hi Anthony,
Was there a sense at the factory that Yamaha was to blame for the company shutting down or was it just that the economics of producing your own parts and hand brazed aerospace frames were no longer viable??? Was there a sense of pride being the underdog against giant American, Italian and Japanese companies driving you guys??.....or was it just a job??
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Post by cusqueno on Oct 4, 2013 9:43:23 GMT
Hi Anthony, good to have you on the forum. I was brought up not far from Potters Bar, in Enfield, near Chace Boys school, Lancaster Road/Baker Street and not far from Forty Hall (to list a few places you might have heard of) and lived there on & off until 1984. But unfortunately, although I heard of Viscount bikes in the late seventies, I never realised that there was a factory in Potters Bar. I bought an Aerospace 400 from Jim Guard cycles in Southamton (where I was at university) in 1981/2. I had hoped to get a fillet brazed bike, like a friend's, but was told they had been discontinued. That bike served me well for many years but at present is retired with a cracked bottom bracket shell.
I've tons of questions: for instance can anyone explain the model structure that generated all those US-themed types (I can understand that it was done to boost US sales, but was there any logic to it?) - Sebring, Colorado, Indy 500, Tulsa G.L., Nevada (I think) - or were these pre-Potters Bar days? Incidentally, the Tulsa G.L. (I owned one briefly) was made in Taiwan, with an excellent and I think unique, metal head badge. Also nicely lined lugs. Unfortunately the frame was heavy and the components low-end SunTour. Was this the only Taiwanese Viscount?
Finally, any help with the names/reference of the colours on the bikes would be good. My 600ex is in Linden Green. That's as far as I've got. What shade of silver was used?
Thanks again, John
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,391
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Post by Jem on Oct 23, 2013 16:58:48 GMT
Come back please Anthony!
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