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Post by goldie on Nov 5, 2018 23:04:26 GMT
I think I’ve probably owned up to buying this thing before. It was not my best eBay purchase for a number of reasons, such as: - Linden green is my favourite 600EX colour, and this one is the pale metallic violet; - I like my bikes uncrashed, and this one is definitely crashed, with a neat little crease on the underside of the top tube and the down tube to prove it; - it wasn’t a complete bike, and I can faff around for months (or, as it turns out, years) trying to choose components; - it is generally scabby, crusty, a bit unloved, greasy and rusty.
I can’t think of a reasonable excuse for having pressed bid. But now it’s followed me across the country to Scarborough and hung around for too long to throw away.
However, it might be about to get a new lease of life...
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Post by goldie on Nov 6, 2018 22:54:51 GMT
Luckily, this ratty old 600EX frame of mine is not my only appallingly bad ebay purchase. A couple of years later, I suddenly got the urge to own a bike with brifters, and I saw a really shiny looking Raleigh DynaTech on Ebay with an awesome early 90s splatter effect paint job and lots of Campag parts. It looked so cool, in a Tab Clear, baggy T-shirt, Happy Mondays kind of way. I drove down to Nottingham to pick it up, and even had a test ride up and down the street before I paid for it. I loved it. Here it is, moodily lit by a shaft of sunlight in the shed: That's not one, but two broken Cateye computers. And tri bars too. Yum. The love affair lasted until I took it off the bike rack when I got it home, which is when I noticed a crack in the thick powder coat on one of the chainstays. I had a closer look, and could see daylight where there ought to have been the finest Reynolds metal. The crack went about 60% of the way round the chainstay. So I got in a mood with the Raleigh, and half heartedly looked into whether it could be repaired (which it couldn't - brazing would heat the frame enough to weaken the glue that holds may of the joints together). I was still in a mood with the Viscount too, for being bent and not green. Eventually I did what I should have done absolutely ages ago, and started thinking about swapping everything on the Raleigh over to the Viscount. I tried the wheels first - and hey presto! They fit! Sort of... I am really sorry about the horrible rug. There isn't a massive amount of space between front tyre and down tube, as you can see. But I felt better about owning this unlikely lilac relic as soon as the wheels slid into the drop outs. Owning a working bike - even if it's a bit knackered - is so much better that owning a load of bike parts, and this was the first step towards turning this Viscount back into a working bike. Incidentally, if you own a 600EX (Cusqueno, I think you used to own a Linden green one?) and you don't mind taking a tape measure to the gap between the front tyre and downtube, that would be really useful in helping me work out just how bent my own frame is. Here's a close up of The Gap - and the crinkles in the tubes from whatever misfortune befell this. I hope the rider was alright...
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Post by goldie on Nov 7, 2018 19:04:52 GMT
Taking bits off the Raleigh. Not pictured here is me taking the crank dust caps off and realising that my crank puller won't work on the Raleigh's cranks, or me heaving on the Allen bolt for the back brake and being completely unable to move it, or the failed attempts of the lads at the bike shop to get the cranks off, or whatever black magic they used to get the back brake off. I've also bought a new seatpost in black to match the ITM stem, and spent a lot of time umming and arring about whether to go for red saddle and bar tape or black. And then I realised I was probably getting carried away, and I should probably just put up with the splattery cork bar tape until I find out whether it rides, nicely, horribly or not at all. And then I also realised that it was a bit late to try and bring common sense to this particular combination of poorly chosen ebay purchases and went back to umming and arring over whether to go black or red.
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Post by goldie on Nov 7, 2018 19:48:36 GMT
Putting the bits back on the Viscount:
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Post by goldie on Nov 7, 2018 19:56:51 GMT
Incidentally, if anyone has a set of crank retaining bolts going spare, I would a happy new owner:
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Post by cusqueno on Nov 8, 2018 13:30:14 GMT
That bottom bracket needs nuts not bolts. I would fit a better bb. Not sure if that one would be suitable for 600ex cranks (which came with self-extracting bolts).
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Nov 8, 2018 15:57:26 GMT
You project is fantastic! It sounds like something I would do (especially the eBay purchases).
In the days Before the throw it away, instead of fix it culture, we used to fix (bodge?) frame damage like yours. Bike shops would simply bend it back to its original position. Our litigious society has destroyed such practical fixes. The standard was that it could be bent back once; more than that (or if it is cracked) then the tube must be replaced. Replacing the tube was a job for a frame shop.
How was it done? To prevent bending other parts of the frame; the frame was gently secured to a large work bench (with padded pipe fitting vises) by the top tube and the down tube. A long hardwood pole was inserted into the head tube. The largest person in the shop would (using the pole) pull the frame back to its' original position. The tubes would still show that they had been damaged; the original position was the guide, not the appearance of the tubes. Such fixed frames were not be as strong as the original; but were considered usable. This only works with steel; aluminum, and composites cannot be repaired this way.
BTW, I agree with Cusgueno, please use a better bottom bracket for your project.
Cheers Jim
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Post by schrauber on Nov 9, 2018 11:30:31 GMT
What amazing persistence you show here! The frame bends do not look so bad in the photos, but the tyre does look closer than it should be. My son presented me with a simmilar problem he had caused, luckily the force appeared to go only into the fork. Interesting was that the steerer shaft had also a long bend in it, not just the fork blades. The bent fork shaft certainly cost some tyre clearance, headset bearing wear and reduce nice turning charateristics. But hey, after the brute force we applied to straighten as much as we could, he's still riding it 2 years later.
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Post by goldie on Nov 9, 2018 14:45:42 GMT
That bottom bracket needs nuts not bolts. I would fit a better bb. Not sure if that one would be suitable for 600ex cranks (which came with self-extracting bolts).
That's a side effect of bike fixing / posting while under the influence of alcohol, that is! Yes, nuts was the word I was searching for. The BB has been serviced, and it is nice and smooth, so in the spirit of tight fistedly trying to get these parts that I have to hang together quickly so I can ride them, I'm going to stick with it for the time being. Simiarly, the crankset is going to be a slightly grim looking Shimano one that was in the parts box for the time being. What I'm hoping, of course, is that actually riding this will give me enough emotional attachment to the frame to come back and do all of this again, but properly.
There's an old Viking mixte in the shed, and I have swiped the crank retaining nuts off that so that I can give them to the Viscount. If anyone sees me talking about putting the Viking back on the road, please do remind me that there is probably nothing holding the cranks on...
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Post by sprockit on Nov 9, 2018 19:37:50 GMT
Have you checked the fork steerer tube for straightness or damage?
In the 'gap' picture the fork blades don't look quite right to me - they seem angled backwards ever so slightly - so may be worth getting them checked by a frame builder. Crash damage to the frame is more obvious, but to the forks, less so.
I bought a crashed Sprint last year for a very cheap price, took off the useful parts, then gave the frame to a training facility where they can practice 'chasing and facing' the head tube and bottom bracket. There was a dent in the shortie mudguard where the wheel had come so far back it had pushed the mudguard into the tightening screw for the band-on shifter. The frame had the same creases as your 600EX but the paint had also flaked off, so to me it was beyond economic repair.
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Post by goldie on Nov 12, 2018 9:25:17 GMT
Have you checked the fork steerer tube for straightness or damage? In the 'gap' picture the fork blades don't look quite right to me - they seem angled backwards ever so slightly - so may be worth getting them checked by a frame builder. Crash damage to the frame is more obvious, but to the forks, less so. I bought a crashed Sprint last year for a very cheap price, took off the useful parts, then gave the frame to a training facility where they can practice 'chasing and facing' the head tube and bottom bracket. There was a dent in the shortie mudguard where the wheel had come so far back it had pushed the mudguard into the tightening screw for the band-on shifter. The frame had the same creases as your 600EX but the paint had also flaked off, so to me it was beyond economic repair. Yes, the frame has been on a visit to my LBS (hello Bike About Filey!), and the steerer tube is straight and undamaged with the headset also in good order. The fork blades are harder to call - there's no obvious backwards bend and no outward sign of damage, but of course whatever walloped the frame must have given the fork a hefty boshing as well. Probably the best way to really find out would be to line it up next to an undamaged Aerospace.
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Post by goldie on Nov 12, 2018 9:38:03 GMT
Here's that Shimano chainset, with Biopace... ...and without Biopace: Thanks for your retaining nuts, Viking: New seatpost has arrived (in black, which I immediately regretted - I thought I was being clever by matching it with the black bars and stem, but it just looks a bit cheesy)as have some new hoods for the Campag brifters. A new saddle and some bar tape are on their way.
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Post by sprockit on Nov 17, 2018 20:29:39 GMT
Not trying to take anything away from your build, Goldie, but over on the CTC/Cycling UK Forum there's a 600EX dripping with Shimano 600 Arabesque components - and it looks very nice indeed!
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Post by goldie on Nov 18, 2018 18:44:04 GMT
Not trying to take anything away from your build, Goldie, but over on the CTC/Cycling UK Forum there's a 600EX dripping with Shimano 600 Arabesque components - and it looks very nice indeed! Oh blimey, it's even got paint on the drop out faces! That is absolutely lovely, and a reminder of how very, very knackered my own frame is. Unless I stand a long way away from it and squint...
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Post by goldie on Nov 18, 2018 21:41:27 GMT
What's nice about Peuf's 600EX frame is that it is (or rather would have been before mine was crashed, scratched and generally abused) unusually for a Viscount identical to mine, right down to details such as the "Viscount" sticker instead of a headbadge and "EX110" stamping on the dropout.
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Post by goldie on Jan 8, 2019 22:53:08 GMT
First test ride, on which the big ring was just along for the ride, as the Record front mech did not really want to let the chain run cleanly over it, let alone change up to it from the little ring . I've just spent another forty five minutes swearing at it / pleading with it, and if you wind the stop screw right out, use some Lego bricks to wedge the mech cage as far outboard as it will go, and pull the cable really tight, it will just about change up. On the stand at least. And the saddle came lose. Yay for single bolt seat post clamps. Feels fast, light and comfortable though. Underneath my griping and fretting, I am really pleased to have it rideable.
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,375
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Post by Jem on Jan 9, 2019 16:19:46 GMT
What a magnificent moody mysterious photo that is!
We are used to photo's of bikes in full sun or in day light, and that took me by surprise. Love it
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Post by cusqueno on Jan 10, 2019 9:43:07 GMT
What a magnificent moody mysterious photo that is! We are used to photo's of bikes in full sun or in day light, and that took me by surprise. Love it Viscount noir.
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Post by goldie on Jan 14, 2019 9:49:09 GMT
I am pleased to say that all sixteen gears are now available. Except that the difference in size between the cogs on the casette are so small that they are effectively all the same gear. And I have to ask the front mech really, really politely if I want it to change up to the big ring. Coaxing any more adjustment out of it as it stands is probably beyond me, so it might mean a trip back to the bike shop, and possibly a shorter bottom bracket spindle? We'll see. And the seat clamp bolt came lose - again. But I still really enjoyed my spin on it yesterday. There's a big hill behind where I live called Hay Brow, and it felt great rolling up it on the Viscount. I even did a cheaky bit of overtaking. And I love the colour! It looks great under bruised, wintry skies.
The chainset is still Shimano, but unbranded and polished, so it doesn't look as odd next to the Campagnolo parts. Stronglight chainrings now too, which again look a bit better than the Shimano rings I was going to use. And I've finally moved the brifters around on the handlebars, so that they line up with each other.
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