Post by jdl51 on Jan 12, 2015 7:59:15 GMT
Sometime in 1978, when I was in my late 20's, I purchased a 10 speed bike from a co-worker that didn't have any decals or obvious markings as to what make it was. I thought he told me it was a Fuji, or maybe the words Shimano and Campagnolo came up, names that were unfamiliar to me at the time. The memory of that initial transaction conversation is pretty dim after all these years. I took it for a test ride. It was very light, had sew up tires, which I wasn't familiar with at all, and seemed to just glide down the street when I rode it, so I bought it. $100 I think was the price. I would use it occasionally to ride to work. I even used it as my only means of transportation for a few weeks, after having sold my car just before I moved down to the BVI for a few years. It ended up parked in my father's garage for an extended period. 35 years later, after a couple more moves, marriage, kids, and another job that took me away from home for weeks at a time, I retired and managed to ride the bike on infrequent occasions. I had a fairly serious auto accident in 2012, fractured my L2 and sternum and couldn't ride the bike. My garage was small and being the only room we had for storage, the bike ended up on the side of the house, outside, under a tarp. South Florida is damp and humid for about five plus months out of the year, and the bike didn't keep well being stored outside.
A couple of months ago I managed to create enough space in the garage so that it could function as a workshop again and near the top of my list of priorities was to bring the bike back to a usable condition. It wasn't a pretty sight. Many of the spokes were broken. The tires were flat and crunchy, bolts, cables and chain were rusted, and it was generally a mess. I started looking closely at it to see if I could find out what make it was. The only thing I observed, other than the decals on the wheels and handlebars, which by that time I knew were just running gear manufacturers, was the name Viscount on the quick release levers. I did a quick Google search thinking I was going to find out that it was just the manufacturer of that particular part. I stumbled on the true origins of my little pile of junk and a few websites and forums catering to Viscount/Lambert devotees.
My particular model is an Aerospace Pro, I am almost certain, with a Shimano Titlist FD, Shimano Crane RD, and a Shimano Suntour Winner freewheel which was manufactured in August '76, according to the letter code. I'm guessing the bike was probably manufactured sometime late '76 or early '77. I decided, seeing as how all of the parts need to be taken off and refurbished anyway, it would be easier to do a complete restoration. I'm about maybe a third of the way into it. I have the frame completely stripped down, including the BB and headset. The next step in the process is to get the frame powder coated and the formerly shiny parts re-chromed or polished. "Today" I'm leaning toward white for the frame, replacing the original silver with black around the headset and seat tube. I'm trying to keep as much of the original equipment on it as I can. I will know more when I take my bag of parts to the platers this week and get their opinion. I desperately want to save the V logo bolts and hopefully the plating process will preserve them without messing up the logos. Somewhere there's got to be a pile of V branded parts buried in someone's garage, rescued from the factory. The Holy Grail of Viscount owners worldwide. I'm leaning toward chroming the chain rings instead of polishing, as well as the rims, cranks and pedals. I think I'll have the fork, hubs and brake parts polished. Recommendations on why or why not chrome versus polish would be appreciated. I have the 3rd version DF and feel safe riding it as it is. They are much nicer looking than their steel replacements. I have a set of BB bearings on the way, VXB's, SS with ceramic ball bearings. I have yet to order the four hub bearings. The spindle looks fine. Structurally the frame looks fine. The derailleurs cleaned up nicely, but I think I will chrome the front chain guide. I will post before and some after progress pics later. I don't want to post before pics and make anyone cry until I have some concrete restoration progress to show for my efforts.
The purpose isn't to make an exact restoration, paint wise or even decal wise, and especially seat wise. I want it to look better than if I bought it yesterday. I'm thinking of putting the head tube decal on and probably a Viscount decal on the down tube. No banding on the seat tube. I want to keep it as clean looking as possible.
I'm already thinking about finding a woman's Viscount for my wife for my next project, but she's only 5'1" and has to have a small frame. If anyone knows about something that might work for her coming up for sale, let me know. Any condition, preferably fair to poor, as long as the frame is good and has most, if not all of the original Viscount branded parts, and of course it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The Shimano stuff is fairly easy to obtain on Ebay.
Maybe one day I can make it to the DF Rally.
Regards,
Jim Linley
A couple of months ago I managed to create enough space in the garage so that it could function as a workshop again and near the top of my list of priorities was to bring the bike back to a usable condition. It wasn't a pretty sight. Many of the spokes were broken. The tires were flat and crunchy, bolts, cables and chain were rusted, and it was generally a mess. I started looking closely at it to see if I could find out what make it was. The only thing I observed, other than the decals on the wheels and handlebars, which by that time I knew were just running gear manufacturers, was the name Viscount on the quick release levers. I did a quick Google search thinking I was going to find out that it was just the manufacturer of that particular part. I stumbled on the true origins of my little pile of junk and a few websites and forums catering to Viscount/Lambert devotees.
My particular model is an Aerospace Pro, I am almost certain, with a Shimano Titlist FD, Shimano Crane RD, and a Shimano Suntour Winner freewheel which was manufactured in August '76, according to the letter code. I'm guessing the bike was probably manufactured sometime late '76 or early '77. I decided, seeing as how all of the parts need to be taken off and refurbished anyway, it would be easier to do a complete restoration. I'm about maybe a third of the way into it. I have the frame completely stripped down, including the BB and headset. The next step in the process is to get the frame powder coated and the formerly shiny parts re-chromed or polished. "Today" I'm leaning toward white for the frame, replacing the original silver with black around the headset and seat tube. I'm trying to keep as much of the original equipment on it as I can. I will know more when I take my bag of parts to the platers this week and get their opinion. I desperately want to save the V logo bolts and hopefully the plating process will preserve them without messing up the logos. Somewhere there's got to be a pile of V branded parts buried in someone's garage, rescued from the factory. The Holy Grail of Viscount owners worldwide. I'm leaning toward chroming the chain rings instead of polishing, as well as the rims, cranks and pedals. I think I'll have the fork, hubs and brake parts polished. Recommendations on why or why not chrome versus polish would be appreciated. I have the 3rd version DF and feel safe riding it as it is. They are much nicer looking than their steel replacements. I have a set of BB bearings on the way, VXB's, SS with ceramic ball bearings. I have yet to order the four hub bearings. The spindle looks fine. Structurally the frame looks fine. The derailleurs cleaned up nicely, but I think I will chrome the front chain guide. I will post before and some after progress pics later. I don't want to post before pics and make anyone cry until I have some concrete restoration progress to show for my efforts.
The purpose isn't to make an exact restoration, paint wise or even decal wise, and especially seat wise. I want it to look better than if I bought it yesterday. I'm thinking of putting the head tube decal on and probably a Viscount decal on the down tube. No banding on the seat tube. I want to keep it as clean looking as possible.
I'm already thinking about finding a woman's Viscount for my wife for my next project, but she's only 5'1" and has to have a small frame. If anyone knows about something that might work for her coming up for sale, let me know. Any condition, preferably fair to poor, as long as the frame is good and has most, if not all of the original Viscount branded parts, and of course it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The Shimano stuff is fairly easy to obtain on Ebay.
Maybe one day I can make it to the DF Rally.
Regards,
Jim Linley
