Comfortable Viscount

I can’t get on the link for some reason, Jim. But without seeing the pictures...

The Colorado in my avatar was changed to be more of a comfortable ‘cruiser’ rather than a racing bike. I fitted a sprung saddle which helps with poor road surfaces/rough terrain, North Road swept back handlebars that gave me a more upright position and is easier on the back and I swapped the chainset for a lower gear ratio.
I think the contact points and body position are the main things in terms of comfort.

Jim,

My wife's only requirement of a bike is that it is comfortable. To that end, I built a bike up for her around an A/S Sport frame that I'd had repainted alongside my Sebring.

P1000527 by RMT@261, on Flickr

As I mentioned in the DFR8 thread, the only Viscount parts still on it are the frame and forks. In short: 700c wheels with 130mm* OLD rear; 700x32 Panaracer Pasela tyres; 8-speed 12-28T cassette; Shimano STX-RC rapid-fire shifter (right); Stronglight single 44T chainset and YST threadless b/b; MKS Sylvan pedals; Tektro dual-pivot brakes & levers; deep box-section GT stem; 'sit-up' chromed steel handlebars with Ergon grips; Ritchey Headset; SKS chromoplastic mudguards; and a cushioned and sprung saddle.

*The 130mm rear OLD spacing was a bit of an oversight/accident. I bought a complete A/S Sport via eB*y a few years back, in a sorry state. At around the same time, I was refurbishing my Sebring and had found a good local frame painter. I stripped the A/S Sport down to the frame and forks and presented him with two frames and paint designs. I had spent some time having the Sebring frame fixed up and getting some extra braze-ons added but I didn't examine the A/S Sport frame very closely before sending it to the painter, as it looked complete in comparison.  In the years since it was painted, it has become apparent that the 're-spacing' of the rear triangle had been done quite clumsily, giving the extra 4mm gap by bending just the drive side chain- and seat-stays out by the required amount. I'd been very happy to find that I could fit a modern 130mm hub into the frame, along with an 8-speed cassette, allowing me to fit a simple indexed rapid-fire shifter instead of a downtube or other friction lever. Just as I thought I had finished the build for my wife, and was proudly following her on it, I noticed that I'd unwittingly 'swung' the rear brake calliper to the RHS and the pads that aligned with the brake tracks on the rims were way out of alignment with each other. On investigation, I realised that I'd done this to compensate for the misalignment of the rear wheel, which was perfectly dished in the truing stand, and ran straight between the chain stays, but was skewed in the rear triangle of the bike due to the lopsided spacing.  After a few attempts at fitting spacers and moving the bearing cones along the axle, it became clear that re-dishing the wheel was the only real solution, so the bike now has a wheel that is dished to fit the rear triangle, but would run very oddly in any other bike.  

Moral of the story: Check your frame alignment and make it straight before parting with any money to make it look pretty!   

Tyres are a good call or even tyre pressure.

I was trying to figure out the other week why the old 3 speeds are more comfortable on poor road surfaces and apart from they were partly designed for that it is the low tyre pressure. The 24 1 3/8 tyres run at 55psi, but my bike with 700c tyres are currently at 100psi (120 max I think).
One is a “spongey” ride, the other like riding a pneumatic drill at times.
I’ve got a nice aluminium Trek road bike and even with carbon forks and seat post it’s not a comfortable ride.

Butterfly handlebars are quite good for different hand positions and offering an upright position but I cant decide if they look right on older bikes. Some of the Dawes touring bikes come with them fitted including bar end shifters.

Jim,
Yes I’ve tried the butterfly/trekking bars. They offer plenty of hand positions and you can ride more upright or get into an aero position.
The downside is they feel like they flex a little, whether that’s just because I had budget ones I don’t know, but I have read others say the same.
You might be able to fit road levers, probably like you would on moustache handlebars. I used standard levers on mine.
Probably not the greatest pictures but the only one’s I’ve got




As for tires, I find 27 1 1/4 much more comfortable than 700c x 30 which was the largest I tried, I’m pretty sure they run on lower pressure which makes a difference. 

These are the North Road bars I had on the Viscount Colorado, only one hand position but it’s comfortable and supposedly the best wrist position of all.

They are ‘riser bars’. I tried them on the Colorado to begin with but preferred the grips being more swept back on the North Road bars.

That’s a great idea with the seat post, I like those handlebars too, proper old roadster type bars. 

Very nicely done! It looks like you've got the low gear well covered for the hills as well. What crankset did you use and what are the sizes? Which is more difficult to work on and to keep running, the MG or a Viscount???

Looks stunning Jim.

I was going to ask if you used a lug lining pen but you mention standard paint pens, looks like they do a really tidy job. Getting the flow right on a lug lining pen I found quite difficult.

Jim, looking at your low gearing chainsets has got me pondering on doing something similar, rather than keep searching for 6 speed freewheels that go low, but never quite enough.

The square taper axle on my 400 model is 116mm with a double chainset and the current inner ring is very close to the chain stay. I’ve found a new chainset but the website is saying it only works with a 110mm axle because of chain alignment.
Not sure if I have room to reduce the axle size given how close the original chainset is to the frame, so I suppose I’m asking is 6mm that much of a big deal on a bike that uses derailleurs?

Thanks for any advice.