I got a blue Firenze GL1000 12 speed for free today and I was wondering if this model is known for catastrophic failure. I know the GL5000 15 speed is notorious for breaking catastrophically while riding, but I am not so sure about the GL1000. I already stripped the cheap stuff off of the frameset of all the cheap components and am debating whether to build it up as a singlespeed on geared bike with slightly nicer components.

It is slightly different than the red GL500P 15 speed ones as it is 12 speed with stem shifters and not 15 speed with top tube shifters.

Been awhile since anyone posted about these.

1980's Firenze, Collectable?
Firenze?
Firenze GL5000

Bottom line, they were so bad you couldn't sell them in the US, but you could give them away if the customer bought a stereo.

Why would you start a new thread about this when you have an ongoing one that you literally posted in today?

Firenze bikes. - Bike Forums

The one in the last thread is kinda notorious as it has Viscount cranks.

And it has a saddle that's labelled Schwinn. What's your point?

You do know that parts can easily be swapped out on old bikes, right?

kinda odd that those cranks made their way onto thay bike.

Sometimes, parts are just parts.

If you want to goose up a Firenze- go for it. You may love it. You might hate it.

My most beautiful bike is a 2nd from the bottom of the line Trek- I probably have more than $1500 in parts and work into that bike. I don't even want to attempt to add up everything that's on and that I've bought for that bike.

My first thought too, when I saw the thread.

Obligatory post of Laurence Olivier on a bicycle.

Here it is mostly stripped down with some box drop bars from a JCPenny bike chopped into bullhorns to make them useful and some cheap square taper cranks.


Why are the drop bars on some of these Free Spirit 10 speeds shaped like this? - Bike Forums https://share.google/J3etV0PDMxylbJUUb

Here's one that's more notorious than Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.





Makes you wonder how a non-tapered crank that was only fitted on a Viscount with a proprietary press-fit bottom bracket is somehow sitting on a conventional square tapered spindle.

"TORQUE IT SOME MORE, TONY! USE THE IMPACT!"

The shop also tried to tell me it was worth three grand and had Campagnolo Super Record on it (when everything else clearly said Zeus 2001. I left after that.

-Kurt

My Raliegh Super Course has a Viscount crankset on it that was there when I got it. I bet that crankarm is not really usable on a Viscount again.

Non Viscount bikes with Viscount cranks thread.

Good one.

I may be missing something here, but with the magnitude of the negative press why would you even consider screwing around with it ? I mean, ....... ? ? ? ?

This thread reminds me of an old Bill Wattenburg late night radio show. One evening someone phoned in asking if his plan to cut up an old gas station tank with a torch would work. Bill replied that this would be very dangerous, as even an old tank that had been sitting around for awhile still had hundreds of monolayers of gasoline stuck to the inside, and would probably blow up. Next night the guy called again, saying he had it figured out. His plan was to fill it with water before cutting. Bill told him that the water would keep the steel from heating up to where it would melt from a torch, even with a localized flame. The next week someone else called in and asked Bill if he remembered the guy. Yeah, said Bill. The caller said the guy decided to ignore Bill's advice and tried taking a torch to the old tank.

It blew up.
Darwin Award winner.

I want to see a Firenze with a Lambert death fork.

…and Specialized Flag crankset with Cinelli pedals and Campy titanium bottom bracket.

((Can’t remember the rims and brake calipers that were problematic))

Could just be Lambert/Viscount chainwheels on square tapered TA Specialités Vis 5 crank arms, they're the same bolt pattern. I have a set I'm going to clean up and bolt to a set of Stronglight 49 Vis 5 arms for a '72 Gitane Interclub.

You forgot the Ava death stem.

Specialized Flag crankset was a death part?

How/why?

Oh, don't forget the chain-catching 4-hole front Campy derailleur.

They look like legit Viscount cranks.

Yes, that looks like a probable explanation to me. The next question is why put those hideous-looking things on a bike instead of TA chainrings, which always looked classy?

Aren't the black sticker parts on the TA cranks branded and the black parts on the Viscount cranks unbranded like in the pic?

IIRC TA made the cranksets for Lambert/Viscount and the crank arms are identical except for the taper. As to the branding.........



I happen to like them. Pic is of another member's bike
.