travgott

hi all,

been a minute, but i really need some help. i agreed to help my boss fix some bikes and one that he gave to me was a Viscount. got it all cleaned and everything done, and of course there was some minor play in the bb. i asked him if he wanted it fixed, he said sure, so i had to reach out to a trusted vintage mechanic i know who could do press fit bb's (since I don't have the tools for that). today my trusted tech got back and said that the spindle and cups were destroyed when removing, and there is no way to tap and thread due to the unique size of this shell.

my boss ain't happy. we all know the bike isn't worth a lot monetarily, but to him it is priceless since it was his first realy bike back in the day and he did a bit of racing on it. now i'm in a real tough spot. the tech is saying if i could find an aftermarket (used) bb for the viscount of course he could put the new one in.

any advice for me? does anyone here happen to have one of these laying around that i would pay dearly for? or alternatively has anyone successfully converted one of these to a modern bracket? and if so, what make and size?

i know this is a long shot, but i would really really really appreciate any advice on how to move forward from this. it's been an ordeal to say the least and i just want to get it behind me at this point. thanks for any words or help in advance. happy friday all...

Charles Wahl

I know that Velo Orange sells square-taper (JIS) cartridge bottom brackets that are "slide-in", not relying on threads. There may be other sources too. But whether one of those will fit the ID of your bottom bracket or its width, I have no idea -- you really should provide some more technical information in your posting to help the helpers.

I could be entirely wrong, but, depending on the way-back extent of "back in the day", a Viscount bike doesn't sound like one that had press-in BB. Maybe your "trusted vintage mechanic" tried to press out threaded cups, and put you in the s***?

curbtender

If this thread doesn't produce, try here...
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-part-5-a.html

Bigbus

There's a lot of info online about these bikes. Here's a quick link to Sheldon https://www.sheldonbrown.com/lambert.html that you might want to check out. Good luck,

travgott

hey guys, thanks for the quick responses. i haven't checked out the trade page, so i will do that. and yeah, it's fo sho a press in. here is the technical info



maybe some work with a dremel?? anyone done this on this scale??

and my tech is the second to none...i would bet my bottom dollar he has seen and fixed nearly every sort of vintage bike there is. this is why i took it to him. now that he's saying no, i'm nervous

xiaoman1 

Travgott,
Sorry to hear of your situation, I don't have any help on the BB, but the old saying" no good deed goes "unpunished" comes to mind.....IMO, your boss should be a little more understanding.
Good Luck, Ben

dddd

One of these will work, just gotta figure out what the symmetrical length equivalent is to your crankset's needs.

https://www.ebay.com/i/283985857218?...33c979f80c79e7

https://www.modernbike.com/sunlite-t...ottom-brackets

What crankset is going to be used??? (this is most important)


.
.

travgott

sorry, i didn't mean to get too snarky with my last post. i'm just feeling stressed over this because it's the boss and you know how that goes. i researched viscount a lot when i gave it the overhaul so i knew that the bb was an unusually small diameter. the issue my guy is really having with it is the tubes are coming so far into the shell. basically he doesn't want to start grinding away to make room, and i can't say that i blame him. plus the diameter is too small for a standard cartridge and rings. he didn't tell me what size the bearings were, but he knows enough to tell me that it wouldn't be worth it to try and replace them as i'm assuming there was also damamge to the races on removal. plus he would need the same spindle...you guys know how this goes

really, i was hoping i would get the one in a billion viscount fanatic who was like, "yeah, i got some layin around!" wishful thinking, i know...but that's where i'm at right now!! hahaha....sorry, it's been a rough friday afternoon.

travgott

deleted my really sarcastic comment to replace it with:

want to keep the original crank. i'm just over this bike at this point. thanks folks for your sympathetic comments and suggestions. really, they are very much appreciated

clubman 

Does the Viscount have that same non-tapered axle as some Lamberts with the TA look alike crank?

I would definitely try Hilary Stone as well.

clubman 

Hey there's a guy with an extra(?) press fit spindle and bearings here. Maybe you can McGyvor?

Charles Wahl

Erm -- Isn't that thread about hubs/rims/spokes, or is the item on the right side some out-to-lunch bike engineer's idea of a cool new kind of BB?

clubman 

Doh...press fit hub bearings. Cripes I'm getting old so quit pointing out my defficiencies would you? My insecurities are already out of control.

JohnDThompson 

I've successfully reamed and tapped Italian threads into several Viscount frames. Check your local shops; one may have the Bicycle Research reamer/tap set to do this job.

nlerner

Another source for a threadless BB is Sunlite/YST. I recently used one of those in a Motobecane with munged threads, and it worked fine. As someone pointed out, the weirdness of the Viscount crankset taper (or lack thereof) is another potential issue, but you could actually file a taper into the cranks and get a decent fit. I do think you'll likely need to remove some material from the protruding tubes in the center of that BB, however. Looks kinda gnarly.

dddd

I still don't have an answer as to what crankset the bike is going to use (Viscount used several different cranksets, some made by Sugino, some having a straight square bore but some "TA copies" having tapered square bore.
A picture might suffice here.

JohnDThompson is correct that the 35mm bb shell can be tapped to 36mm threaded Italian, it's a mid-priced solution imo and would allow use of a non-cartridge BB, but you have to know what crankset you're dealing with before selecting a new threaded bb.

It was mentioned that the bearing races were destroyed, but that matters not since the entire inexpensive/generic pair of 35mmx17mm bearing cartridges get replaced (and are much easier to install than to remove). Was the spindle damaged(?), that is hard to do but I still haven't seen a picture of it either, and I would recover the spindle immediately before it gets thrown out.

Splendidtutiona

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Viscount-17...54d2%7Ciid%3A1

That what you are looking for? I know it has cranks and everything, but might be worth looking at if it has that much sentimental value to your boss

rhm

If you have the Viscount crank with the non-tapered square hole, the one that looks more or less like a TA crank, you can take a small square file and file a taper into the square hole, so it fits on a tapered spindle. It's pretty easy to just eyeball it and get pretty close to a good fit, the file off the spots where it hits. I did that, and the crank worked fine. I believe my BB is tapped to Italian. That works fine, too.

madpogue 

The way the frame tubes protrude into the shell, I don't see how a cartridge BB could be fit into it.

travgott

man, i sent that link for the ebay crank and bb to my dude. thanks for all the ideas and comments!

i've decided to take a different approach and hook up my boss and my tech directly. i thought a lot about this today and figured, why the hell am i involved in this. he said to have him come down to his shop, so that's an invite i passed along to my boss. unfortunately i didn't take any pics of the bike when i had it in my possession. and i honestly can't remember what exactly the crank was. i know, i know, this sounds like amatuer hour. but hopefully alls well that ends well. i just don't wanna be the one who has to tell him how much it's gonna cost....

guy153

I think you'd start by fitting a hole saw into it. Really strange how they protrude like that but I don't see how it can have any structural value.

aceves 

Hi @travgott,

Are you still looking for those original press-fit BBs for this Viscount? I might have some in my parts bin (I can look later tonight once I'm home). Let me know if you still need them or if you're going with a different BB option. Send me a PM and we can discuss in more detail.

aceves

merziac

I'm sorry but the minute you say Viscount, you will regret getting involved unless you have been there, done that or solved many versions of this on all else.

If you're a master guru already then by all means, dig in but on these, the "road to h**l" comes along very soon and is very likely to make you question most things with them.

And yes I know many here have a soft spot for these and am glad they do, anybody who takes these on can likely get the better of whatever comes their way.

jiangshi

This is what I would do if I cared about a Viscount.
Mr Thompson is a trusted source. Trust him.

stevel610 

The other advice I would give is to be sure the original fork has been replaced.