A 'pang' and it was over

Unfortunately not in a good way. I went to pick up the blue Aerospace Sport frame which I had been given last year and which I'd planned to re-vamp for the rally, but I'm not really sure if that's going to happen.
As you can probably remember, it has a pretty mangled, stuck seat post and the plan was to cut it off, bend it back so I could insert a socket or something else strong to avoid the soft alloy tearing (more) when clamping the whole thing into a vice. I was curious if I could move it with a bit of rust dissolver sprayed beforehand and, since there were already two holes in the alloy, I stuck a screwdriver through them for leverage and pulled to one side. I heard a pang and got all excited as that's normally the sound of metals (alloy and steel in this case) parting. I tried again to find that I'd only widened the holes. Fine, I thought, it's probably better to not force it like this. But what caused that pang? I investigated the frame a bit more and found a split in the back of the seat stays: my heart sank. This operation had suddenly become major. To be fair it's nothing that I could have prevented; the tube had been through hot/cold treatment last year and there's age to be considered. 30 odd years are not to be sniffed at. The way I see it: rather now than later, when the frame's all freshly painted. I wish, though, it hadn't happened at all as it'll delay my plans. And I'm not entirely sure if it can be fixed. If not there's always Shawn with his cracked seat tube. I hope this is not developing into a pattern ...
And just for the terrible pun, I'm going to share with you some cracking pictures.

A prominent split

No band aid can help here

Cracked seat tube

Viscount Aerospace Sport cracked

I'm in touch with Steve, who will hopefully get back to me with positive news. If so, The frames will be sent off for repair and powder coating. The fork of the blue bike has its chrome intact, which means it just needs a lick of paint. I'll keep you posted on this.

A poorly Viscount in surgery

I think I need help; something isn't right with me. You see, my dream is to open a reptile rescue centre; instead it seems I'm heading straight for a Viscount rescue centre; I can't seem to pass on good offers--particularly not if they're Viscounts in need of love. Therefore my collection has now a new addition: a curious find with its front lugged and the rear fillet brazed. There were only two models that came like that and that was the Victor and the Sebring. This one doesn't have any further transfers which could indicate it's either of them. Instead it feels like a 'let's slap on what we have in our parts box' bike with cottered cranks, steel pedals, alloy stem and handlebar, as well as alloy seat post and brakes. And the merry mixing and matching doesn't stop there: Huret shifters with a Suntour RD, although I assume it was changed later as the front mech is Huret, too. The Weinmann side pull brakes may be original as well. To be honest, I have no clue. What I do know, though is that it will make a smashing bike when I'm done with it. It's getting a new colour, the old parts from my beloved Sprint (BB, shifter, mechs and crankset). and a new handlebar. I've decided to steal this bike's handlebar to use it for the Indy-fixie project. Oh, don't you even think for a second I've forgotten about it; no, no. It just needs to take a back seat while I'm working on my rally bike and this new project. Those out of the way, it'll be time for the Indy. Or maybe even in between.

Anyhow, here are the pictures of the new bike. I'll also nick the mud guards for the Indy. As it's going to be sand-blasted, I'll see if I can fine some red gimmicks (seat?) for it to make it match. We'll see.

Victor or Sebring? 

I really want those stickers for my rally bike!

Great grips and Weinmann levers

Cottered cranks on a Viscount?

Quite interesting Suntour RD

The adjuster for the ladies with long fingernails

The bike in surgery

DFR2 training well under way

My partners in crime

It seems that the weather gods have read yesterday's post as I woke to wonderful sunshine and blue sky. Yes, the announced rain didn't happen. Okay, that's not quite true, it happened, but only a short, powerful shower, and it began when we arrived at a pub and was long gone when we continued our journey. We started at Finsbury Park, through Seven Sisters and entered Lea Valley at Tottenham, riding along the tow path towards the east end where we stopped at the aforementioned pub. Very traditional, with a little outside space and upstairs restaurant. Cute! When we stepped out onto the terrace, you could almost forget that you were in London; it felt like you had magically gone through a worm whole and came out in Brighton. Unfortunately, I couldn't shoot a better picture as the clouds hung low and heaven chucked quite a bit of water over us.

So we retreated inside and had a pint. I have to train for the Death Fork Rally2
Ha! As if I  need training to down a few pints. Never mind. We had a drink each and soon were back in our saddles. The sun had come out again and the river Lea was calling. Dan pedantically insisted it's a river, not the canal, and right he is.
Anyhow, just going along this beautiful river is amazing. I love those boats, the people living on them, who smile and wave at you, the community spirit among them; it appears to be a different world, away from the hectic live in London. Next month, my friend will be visiting me, staying for a week, and I know exactly where we're going. She loves cycling just as much as I do, so we'll be out and about on Viscounts. And why not along the tow path? There's so much to see, like Springfield Park, which is a lovely piece of green, or the Markfield Beam Engine, which we visited briefly today. Unfortunately we were too late for the 'action', but I'm sure I'll go on the 5th of May again. There's Victoria Park, and the cafe in there sells a rather delicious lemon drizzle, plus the staff are really nice. Of course there's the German Deli Warehouse shop, where you can either stop by for a quick meal, or top up (like me) on liquorice. If you're after a pizza, there's The Crate, a bit too hipster, for my taste, but it's a convenient stop to have a beer and loo break. They also brew their own lager, and we had a few of them.

DFR2 Boot Camp

Not sure if I was seeing double

I don't know if it was the alcohol which let the tools appear a lot BIGGER or if my hands had shrunk ...

All in all it was a very lovely day and certainly one we agreed to repeat.

By the looks of it: a rainy Easter ride

My Viscount at Alexandra Palace

 There's only one word to describe how the weather's been in the past few weeks: gorgeous! Lots of sun and blue sky and perfect for scenic rides. Sadly, right in time for the holidays, it has changed, chucking down rain all over London, and tomorrow's forecast is looking equally bleak. Damn! My mate and I had planned our ride for weeks and then this. Pfff! I certainly hope that the forecast is wrong and we get at least a dry day. And I will force nature into positivity by posting pictures of last week's ride into the countryside, into which Ben, my mate and fellow mechanic, whom I will share a workspace with, lead me. We went from north London to Potters Bar and back. It's a bit hilly for me and, after the second steeper one, I started to whinge extensively, only to stop muttering in favour of breath in order to climb up the third. I had to discover that riding 26 miles through flat terrain doesn't really compare to 20 miles of hilly roads. Ha, you'll probably laugh, common sense would have to you, Stella. Yes, if only I had known how hilly the bloody countryside is. And that after I had been to the hilly south recently! What the heck was I thinking?
Anyway, I got rewarded with beautiful locations to take pictures of and an astonishing view over London. That made is all worth the huffing and puffing and I've already told Ben that I'd like to do it again--with a little less whinging on my part next time. He just laughed and said, 'Ah, I don't mind, I knew you could do it!'
Why, thank you, Ben, that's reassuring. :-)

Ben on top of the world

A beautiful reward

By the way: the Giant and Viscount have got on very well.

Stem SOS!

Riding old bicycles can have its perils as I've recently learned. I mean not that I wasn't aware of it, but so far, I think I've been really lucky with my Viscounts. The Sprint had endured quite a bit of force last year, when I rode straight into the bollard, only bending a bit, and my other bikes just keep going. Yes, I look after them, mainly to keep them on the roads, but also in order to protect myself. Every now and again, I'll check the bikes over, for cracks, loose bits, or rattling noises.
That's why I confidently took the blue Aerospace Sport out one morning, happily going up the hills and down full speed, etc. Bliss. On the way back, in the evening, though, I felt something wasn't quite right, as if the headset was loose, but that couldn't be, could it? I tried to turn the lock nut with my fingers, but it was tight. Hmm. What the hell? The stem bolt had been tight, too, since last time I wanted to adjust it (the angle was slightly off), it didn't move one bit. But why did I feel something was wrong? The QR was tight and nobody had touched the bike during the day. Curious, that. I decided it wasn't safe to ride it
anymore--yeah, I was silly enough to do all the hills of the ten-minute ride first, before further investigating. Turned out the stem had come up, which puzzled me. Anyway, I pushed the bike home and left it in the shed for the time being. I'd wanted to swap the stem for a shorter one for some time, so here was my perfect opportunity (also to buy a set of imperial Allen keys as the original stems of that blue bike with the skip-tooth freewheel aren't metric.)
When I finally got around to doing it, I discovered that the reason for my feeling a wobble was that the stem was broken--probably due to fatigue--and that it was only held together by the bolt. Blimey! That could have been a nasty meeting with the tarmac.

Broken Viscount alloy stem

What I don't understand is how it had come up so much but, when I tried to pull
it out, it was somewhat reluctant. A few short blasts with a rust dissolver and a brief hit with a hammer, and the broken end of the stem together with the wedge fell into the fork.

Stem and wedge sunken into the fork

Great! Some upside-down acrobatic in the bike stand and I could finally proceed with getting the new (old) SR stem in.

Bit of the old stem and the intact wedge

Just when I wanted to swap the boring normal bolt for the V-branded one, I stumbled over another Viscount-typical obscurity: the V-bolt had a little nodge which fits into a slot in the stem, so the V will be positioned the right way. How very clever, but rather useless for me at that moment.

Stem with slot

Match made in heaven

I briefly thought about filing but, sadly, the head of the bolt is too big. I'd probably be able to grind it down, but I guess it would look uneven, plus you don't want to mess around with a bolt that holds the handlebar in place.
Anyway, I've successfully changed the stem and threw the drive train into the parts washer, put everything back together, then put on new handlebar tape and have been out and about on the blue Aerospace Sport, which makes for a smashing ride.

A much cleaner Viscount

Great job, if I do say so myself

The days of back- and knee aches are over!

Those of you who remember my post from around Christmas, when I re-built the red flash in my kitchen, using the appliances for a stand: I'll have you know that those times are over. So is balancing the bike between the legs or leaning it against something when doing bar tape.
Because as of today I have a work stand. Okay, it's not a Kestrel, of which I'm a big fan, but it's surprisingly sturdy and will do the trick. I think it would even withstand some serious bottom bracket torquing--I'll test that when I put the Indy 500 back together.

New toy

With the Viscount Indy 500 frame

And for only 30 quid, who could resist? Although there's one thing I'm not happy about: the tool tray ain't big enough. Note: this is only a selection of everyday tools. Guess, I'll have to make one myself or find a different solution. 

A recipe for disaster

Talking about tools: I had to take a picture of the leaflet that came with the stand. Look at warning No. 2--just hilarious. Seriously, do people feel tempted to do such stupid things? The creativity of some human being seems endless, methinks.

More tool news: I finally got round to get myself a metric/imperial Allen key set. Not the prettiest, but does the job; tried it on the blue Sport and I guess I'll be swapping the stems on Sunday. Oh, and something I haven't had since today: an adjustable spanner. It's only 250mm, but the jaw opens up to 35mm; I must admit, though, that I really would like to have a big one, one that I can barely lift. No, I don't need it, but I want it just to drool over it. Might come in handy one day, too. Ah, tool-addicts, eh?

A must for every mechanic

Anyway, after all that heavy lifting (the stand isn't exactly a light weight), I'm hungry. Better get some food into me. Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

How long ...?

... before they'll finally come with the straitjacket, that was what I thought yesterday, when I rode past a bike that I'd seen before out of the corner of my eye, but never bothered to stop. Until, well, yesterday. I even squeaked a bit, catching the attention of a guy who cycled in the other direction. A reaction like this can only mean one thing: I'd spotted another Viscount.
And what a lovely one at that. A Viscount President ladies' frame. I've only ever seen men's President frames and was delighted to see this little gem. Quite in good nick it was, too, and clearly loved by its owner as it's locked with a D- and cable lock--something that always pleases me to see. On any bike, I might add! Anyway, I stopped and took some pictures.

Viscount President ladies' spotted in London

This is how you lock a bike!

Guess you can't find those batteries anymore

And now to the crazy part: today, when I passed it again, I left a note on the bike, hoping for the owner to pop by the Viscount & Lambert bikes board to tell her/his story about how s/he came to the bike. We are always excited to meet new owners and welcome everyone with open arms.
So hopefully the person will pop by.

On a different note, also regarding a blue Viscount: since I'm going to change the stem of my blue Aerospace Sport, I'll also toss the white handlebar tape. As comfortable as it is, it just gets too dirty. Therefore I've decided to try blue retro bar tape, which fits the bike's colour perfectly--I hope.

I'm sure it'll look smashing and, thanks to eBay, I didn't have to splash out too much. Furthermore, I've secured myself some old-fashioned Continental tyres which I'm going to use for my rally bike. That's next week's ride sorted for me to the south of London. If I ever find the place to pick the tyres up, that is.
So next week or the week after, I'll get cracking with the seat post removal, and will document every step of the way, then bring the frame to Amourtex to get it powder coated.
Here's a reminder of the frame with the mangled seat post:

A great challenge

I have high hopes to free it and will enlist the help of Noah and his vice. Together, we removed a few seat posts and it's definitely a two-(wo)men job. Fingers crossed!