bigbossman 

Sometime last summer, I acquired a "mystery bike" in a bike/pile of parts deal. Most of the parts were Campagnolo and have since been sold off, and the "mystery" bike frame was identified as a stripped Viscount.

The fellow I got it from had stripped the paint from the frame and converted it to a single speed, and had cut/filed off the RD hanger and the shifter bosses. Since it was not possible to rebuild it into a multi-gear bike and I had uses for the miscellaneous parts, I stripped it down to the bare fame. The seat/seat post went to my Pinarello, the stem/bars went to my Palo Alto, and the chrome fork/headset went into another build that I subsequently flipped (the Campy brakes, wheelset, and brake levers are still in my possession).

I made out more than ok on the deal, and now had a leftover stripped frame sitting in the corner. I was going to rebuild it into a SS and sell it off, but three things stood in the way:

1) I had munged up the threads on the drive side of the spindle removing the TA crank.
2) The frame needed painting/powder-coating.
3) I had no fork.

So, it sat. And sat some more. one day I found an old fork from a Centurion I had stripped about two years ago, and absentmindedly put it next to the frame. One day at Walmart, I found a couple of cans of Duplicolor paint on the clearance shelf for $2 each (midnight blue). I bought them and put them next to the frame.

A couple of weeks ago, I traded my way into a replacement spindle. Now, I had everything I needed but time. And Friday I had a local machine shop clean ouththe munged threads on the old spindle, so now I have a spare.

Well, being out of work took care of the time issue, so yesterday I started prepping the frame. Today I finished the sanding and degreasing, and shot the first coat of primer on the frame and fork. I've never rattle-canned a bike before, so this is new ground for me. But, there are a lot of good tips and tricks in the forum, so I'll be busy for a bit searching. But, I have every confidence that this will come out quite passable, and I'm having a bit of fun doing it.

Because this will ultimately be a flip, I'm not going to go with the expense of a powder-coat job. Also, while I'm using good quality automotive paint, the color was dictated by the clearance table. So, the main color will be the midnight blue. I've used white primer as a base, and have many half used cans of "accent" color on hand - red, white, yellow, green, and black. I don't want to get too crazy, but the idea of a dark blue frame and a fork of some contrasting color - say, yellow or white - has crossed my mind. What do you guys think?

I'll keep updating the build process in this thread, but as of right now the only pic I have is of the bike as received:

501breeze

it's gonna look really nice, i'll bet. I've always been partial to blue and white. Midnight blue is classy.

bigbossman 

I thought the blue with a white fork and white tape would look cool. The wife and kid think otherwise. I'll paint the frame first, and see how it looks with the white primer fork.

vpiuva

I'm not too sure about the whole white fork, either. Maybe 1/2 white, as chrome was often, might work

Bikedued

I'd leave the fork full chrome, and midnight blue sounds like a very nice color choice. That looks like a Viscount Aerospace GP to me? The seat cluster is a dead giveaway. Should make a very nice ride, it already looks VERY cool!,,,,BD

I'm about to paint my Shogun rattle can style. I also am using a midnight blue metallic, and a white head tube between the lugs.

digitalbicycle

+1

Don't paint over, the fork, it looks great. And midnight blue has always been one of my favorites.

Bikedued

A full chrome fork would look "right", since the Aerospace came with the solid bare aluminum fork.,,,,BD


Hmm, I just looked at my aerospace, and the seat tube is cut off lower. Wonder what model it was?

Otis

Unless it's going to be an "hour record" bike I think you have way too much gear. 42 x 16 is a much better SS combo.

bigbossman 

You guys missed the part in the OP where I said the chrome fork was used elsewhere, and I later found a salvaged Centurion fork in my stach. That fork is not chrome, and was a "dusty rose" color. It had chips and some bare metal rust spots, and when I tried to feather them out with sanding, the paint started flaking off. I ended up stripping it to bare metal.

RE: the model type - don't know. This bike came to me already stripped of paint, and had all the braze-ons gound off.

RE: gearing - yeah, that's a tall gear the fellow had on it, 52-17. I'll leave the 17 0n the rear, and put something more useable on the front. I was going to ask for suggestions, so thanks for the tip!

The frameset is all primered and ready to paint. It is now cold with a bit of moisture in the air, so I'm going to wait. Pics soon!!