Death Fork Dilemma
 

Found a nice Viscount at a garage sale friday, complete with death fork. My dilemma is deciding what to do with it now. It's a little bit big for me so I will probably flip it, but not sure how to proceed. Should I................

a) Clean it up and sell it to a collector as an Aerospace technilogical oddity?

b) Swap out the fork and clean it up?

c) Swap out the fork and "fix" it, parts bin the leftover components?

d) Let it hang in the basement for eons with the rest of the backlogged projects?

is it a complete bike or just a frame? if it is a 'little' big swap out the fork with a medium priced replacement, tune it up and ride it. then you will have some experience with Viscounts bikes. this is the Alloy one with the pressed BB?

you can always just wax it and resell it.

PICS??

hopefully yours is in better shape than mine. seat post and stem are pretty much welded in by whatever chemical oddity has happened over the last 30 years. The fork sells for $20ish dollars on Ebay, almost pay for a replacement.

I went to a garage sale about a year ago. There was no garage sale items in the front of the house, but the signs indicated to go around the back. I entered the enclosed patio, and all I saw were nickknacks, Christmas stuff, and household items. I was about to leave, but decided to ask the owner if she had any bikes. She thinks about it for a minute, and saids "come with me" She is leading me towards the back of her property, and in the distance I see a huge barn. My mind starts going off, and I'm visualizing that she opens the door to the barn, and once the doors open I see bikes, and more bikes hangin from the rafters! :-) The doors to the barn were not opened, but on the side of the barn there are two bikes. One is a folding bike, and the other is a beautiful Viscount (white and red color scheme). I look over the bike, and I determine that it is in great shape. I then ask her how much she wants for it, and she looks at me with a sweet lovely smile and saids "You may have them for free!" I asked her if she was sure, and she responded that they were not being used and to just take them. I rode the Viscount with the death fork for about a month, and I can still report that I have all of my teeth. I ended up selling it with full disclosure of the fork pressumed challenges. It was definitely a light bike, and rode extremely nice. I would recommend that you ride it, and since it has some collectability, sell it in the future.

Flash

They have strange geometry. If that doesn't bother you, ride it. I would. Replace the fork if you want.

I'd choose the first option.

Sell the death fork to a collector who wants to keep his Lambert/Viscount "pure", and install a nice fork on your Viscount and ride it. They are so light for a steel frame, and very nice riding. I turned the Lambert I had into a S.S., and sold it for $120.

It is a complete bike, tig welded aerospace tubing I think I read somewhere, pressed BB. I do have a chrome replacement fork for it.

Sorry, I am "pics" illiterate.................it's not letting me load any new pics for whatever reason.

This thing is scarry light...........It is light grey with black headtube, Shimano 333 hubs, 1st gen. Suntour Cyclone RD and sports a nice jim blackburn rear rack.

none of those things are original to it, mine also is heavily modified.

My Aerospace Pro weighs 22.5 lbs with a replacement steel fork and sewups. The new fork weighs less than the Death Fork did. Not so scary, really.

What is so odd about the geometry?

No, not TIG welded but fillet brazed (or "bronze welded" in British parlance) by Trusty in England. Tubing is straight gauge chrome-moly, 0.5mm IIRC. The bottom bracket shell is unthreaded and used pressed in cartridge bearings with an untapered spindle held in place by circlips. The fork was solid cast aluminum, with a steel steer tube pinned in place to a plug on the top of the crown. This was the source of the problems with the forks -- the pin site was a stress riser and could fail without warning.

What size is it?

Go for choice (b) or choice (c). Use the Death Fork to roast marshmallows two at a time (use a pot holder).

Part it out, sell the main frame on ebay. Or get a really, really, good umbrella liability policy. Myself, I am not selling something with a known defect, even with full disclosure. If something happens, buyer will get amnesia, and it will all be back on you.

Just noticed you have a replacement fork, so install it and sell the bike. But have you noticed what gen 1 Cyclone has been going for lately?

hmm looks like my gen 1 cyclone is going on Ebay tomorrow