As an owner of two nearly identical steel-forked Viscounts, I won't be too critical, but since these were marketed as bikes that were supposedly competitive with typical racers (now that's some marketing), some people did race them.
They quickly developed a reputation for being on the fragile side, with tube and dropout failures of the frame and too-frequent breakage of their bb spindles. The company didn't do enough R&D to ever gain credibility with racers, and I won't even mention that al fork. To my knowledge Viscount never sponsored or supplied any pro teams.
One result of all this is that I was able to buy mine for under $40 for the pair, with one being as-new. I mostly like the way they ride and get compliments on the bike's appearance. The one that was more cobby got set up with modern STI shifters, chain, freewheel brakes, headset and derailers on the cheap, but it's original dimpled-rim and hi-flange wheelset polished right up and remains one of the bike's most distinctive features. Weight is now about 25lbs (with a small tool pack and 1-1/8" width tires) and I kept the original bb and cranks, with fingers crossed. At 155lb I don't really expect any failures, despite occasional hard use.
Some peculiarities: My "56cm" and "59cm" (c-c) frames (I always measure using cm for functional comparison's sake) both have 56cm top tubes, and 170 and 165mm cranks, respectively (yes, 165's on the ~59cm). The front caliper reaches about 60mm to the 27" rim. Altho the bikes appear identical (both even the same blue color) one has Viscount dropouts with screws, while the other has Suntour Dropouts. The Viscount 100mm stems are a polished work of art, imo.
I don't know about their "collectability", but their marketing campaign was one to be remembered. Even engineers bought these little-tested machines based on their well-hyped sealed bearings and affordable light weight.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA USA
Hi all,
I'm puzzled by all the Viscount death stuff, and particularly by the fellow who described Viscount as "junky". They are light responsive frames, just what your readers look for in vintage lightweights I would have thought. My 1978 model has never given a moments trouble, (Tange steel fork), the famous bottom bracket just goes on and on, and while Campy stuff has had problems, I don't see anyone dismissing all Campy products as "junky". Snobbery exists in many forms, criticism often from people with no practical experience of the subject. I will continue to enjoy my "junky" Viscount after 27 years of faithful service.
Alan Kearsley.
Melbourne, Australia.