1975 Viscount Aerospace Pro

Re: viscount aerospace measures

Hi, I see this is a rather old thread. Will give it a try, nevertheless, and see if I get lucky. I bought a Viscount Aerospace recently, only to find about the death fork later. I want to replace it with a steel fork, and I am not picky about it being original - any fork that works will work

Can someone kindly offer the fork measures I should look for? i am a total amateur and can't figure it out by myself

Thanks for your time, and all the best
D

You just want a 1" threaded fork for 700c wheels. The replacements for the alloy fork were chrome steel.

The measurement that will decide if it will fit the frame or not is the steerer length. If you take the fork off your bike and measure the length of the steerer tube from top to bottom, it's this measurement you want. If you buy a fork with a steerer up to about 10mm longer then you can just cut it down a bit, but you won't be able to use one with a shorter steerer tube.

We had a discussion about the death fork a couple of years ago and the consensus was most people don't worry about it. My Viscount had it replaced, but I don't think I'd have too many worries about riding the alloy fork. Obviously keep an eye on it, and I wouldn't be jumping it up and down kerbs, but unless you're very heavy it's probably nothing to worry about.

This is brilliant. Thank you very much for your time and attention! I have understood all the measurement details and will use as directed. As for the not worrying about it, I will definitely have them in mind. I am surely biased - probably having googled 'death fork' took much.

thanks again and all the best, Guru

If you want rid of your forks and they are the same size steerer to the steel on one of my Viscounts i may do a swap with you.
You can PM or email me.

Just a quick thought re. your fork replacement. If you fit a new fork designed for 700c wheels there will possibly be problems with the front brake
blocks being able to line up with the new rim position. Also the new fork will be about 20/25mm 'shorter' than the alloy fork ( I have just measured
an original fork against a 700c ) The handlebars will therefore be the same amount lower than they should be, and the top tube will slope down
slightly. It may be that the 27" wheels will not even fit in 700c forks with adequate clearance. Hope this helps, personally I would try to find out
if you have the final and best version of the alloy fork

Re: mmmm

Now that you mention this about the 700s I am wondering if I messed up. I decided to keep it and change the wheels (current need repair) and the guy at REI told me to buy 700s ... so I will now have a problem with what I bought?

About your offer, I am thinking of putting it together and I am ready to sacrifice purity for ride-ness. So I am open to swaping any piece for any other piece that works best.

Even the whole bike

It is my understanding that it is mostly in original shape, so you might want to look at it if you are interested? Let me know. And thanks again for your time!

Presumably you took your bike to REI ? and they advised you to buy 700c wheels. If you bought the wheels from them, I imagine that they trial fitted
them in the frame to make sure that everything was ok ie the brake blocks line up, the wheel is centered in the frame and the gears line up correctly.

If all this is ok, then you have just the minor problem of buying new forks. There are loads of second hand forks out there ( as many have converted
to carbon ) You really want some made of Reynolds 531, and with sloping shoulders if you are really fussy. In all probability the existing front brake
will not allow the brake blocks to line up with your new rims correctly, so a new shorter reach brake will be needed as well.

All this may sound complicated, but I assure you will be well worth the effort. Don't discard any of the original parts from the bike, even if they
appear worn out. Should you ever want to sell it, the original parts add value to the enthusiast.

Re:

Great advise on keeping the parts. I agree to that!

As for the wheels no, I just take the bikes usually there for their labor, and buy everything off Ebay. I already have a front wheel and I am waiting to see if a rear one shows up (the guy said 165 mm, and I dont see any)

I hope I can find this soon and that the problem with the brakes does not exist or it can be sorted easily. I dont want to spend much money on it

Thanks and regards

I think you have been given some bad advice, the 165mm is the OLN measurement ( check Sheldon Browns website to learn more ) The measurement
on my Aerospace Pro ( even with non-standard hubs ) is 130mm, so you can see that 165mm is way out. You can easily measure the gap between the
dropouts (where the wheel fits) yourself to check the correct width you need. Bear in mind that your 'new' wheel will need to take a screw on freewheel,
you should be able to fit your existing freewheel, take the old wheel to your bike shop and have it removed. You don't mention what part of the world
you are in, you might get lucky and get somebody local to you with practical advice/help

Re: finally rebuilding

Hi, so I finally got to gather all the pieces. I bought new wheels (ebay), the rear one being 130 mm, not 165 (bad note taking!)

Bought some new tubes and cream tires. Will be taking everything to the REI guys saturday morning. I I will hopefully get the bike runing sometime next week

So thank you, thank you, for all your help and knowledge!!