John Barry wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> About a year ago I was gifted a 1979? Viscount, under
> the condition that I restore it, and send pictures of
> the finished job to the kind gentleman who gave me the
> bicycle. Well, moving at my usual glacial pace, I
> have been slowly disassembling the bike and cleaning
> off all the bits and parts as work on other projects
> permits. All was going well until I got to the pedals
> and chainrings.
>
> The thread on the drive-side crankarm stripped when I
> attempted to remove it and later, as I cleaned the
> prodigious layers of gunk off the chainrings, I
> noticed the teeth are absolutely worn to the nubs. I
> think it's rather unrealistic to hope to find an
> original set of rings to replace them, and quite
> frankly, I believe it will solve a whole host of
> problems if I simply remove everything from the bottom
> bracket and start from scratch. Yes, the bike will
> lose a bit of its character in the process, but it
> isn't otherwise 100% original anyways.
>
> I've a relative novice when it comes to matters
> involving BBs, and I'm hoping that some on the list
> might have suggestions for what might be a reasonable
> (and affordable) replacement for the original
> six-circle chainring arrangement.
Lambert/Viscount cranks show up occasionally on ebay and generally go quite cheaply. Otherwise, you ought to use a TA arm and rings, although IIRC the spindle taper is unusual. Perhaps replace the original BB with a modern cartridge unit.
--
-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA