1960's Viking Conquest

[Illaveago]

Right back to the subject .
I have been doing some more cleaning this morning. I also thought that I would try fitting the wheels off my Raleigh. I was surprised that they fitted. I also dug out my 70's Severn Valley.

 

[Illaveago]

My late 70's Severn Valley is made of 531 double butted throughout, the same as the Superlite but not having chromed fork ends and a bit lower spec Campag equipment . The frame is stamped VQ . Harry Quinn involvement .

Allvit was a Huret range derailleur. there is an example shown on https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/derailleur_brands_a_to_r.html but not your one.

I have no idea which model btw, I was just referencing VCL vs ICl tubing with that link, its the right era, but spec will no doubt vary between years.

my first proper "racing" bike was a Viking - a kids/teens 26" wheel model in the late 70's, somewhat past their glory years, although I think they were still churning out a 531 framed superlight back then, along with cheaper mass market models.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been having a go at cleaning up the chrome wheels which were very rusty . I treated one with rust removing gel and then polished it up with metal polish. Although it has come up looking quite shiny there are lots of tiny pit marks. The front wheel I used a different method of rubbing the rusty surface with fine wire wool and white spirit and then polished up with aluminium foil. I think the wire wool method is a faster method. Both wheels have some nasty areas where the chrome has peeled off. I will treat these and touch them up.
The rear wheel bearings felt notchy so I stripped them down . The grease had dried up but the balls and cones were fine , so after cleaning I reassembled them with new grease.
The tyres appear to be fine and are holding air .

 

[Illaveago]

I've been continuing with the cleaning up of my Viking Conquest. I had a go at using aluminium foil on the rear derailleur.
Today I set about wire brushing the chain, oiling it and fitting it to the bike . I removed 6 links but still had plenty of slack . That was until I wound the spring on the idler pivot round a complete turn . This had the desired effect.
I swapped some brake blocks off another bike , found another saddle and set off for a test ride. It felt a bit strange to begin with. I could hear the spokes pinging after I had trued the wheels. The rear mech was also making a bit of clicking noise, probably a stiff link. I gradually settled in to the bike and set off to my brothers. I did 12 miles in the end . The bike felt fine although the gearing is a bit higher than I'm normally used to.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been working on restoring the leather saddle. I treated the frame which was very rusty with rust remover, the stays were covered in thick brown rust.
The leather was dry and cracked so I have been treating it with a mixture of linseed oil, bees wax and fat. My wife said that I'll have all the dogs after me.
My new copper rivets arrived today. My intention is to drill the rivets out so that I can glue some chamois leather to the back to strengthen the leather. I also discovered a stamp mark on the underneath of the frame A62. I think this could be a date stamp. So the bike looks to be a1962 model.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been gluing some strips of chamois leather and a small section of thicker leather on the underneath of my saddle . There were some large gaps where the old rivets used to be plus the side piece with the holes for laces had almost broken away. I glued the sections on with contact adhesive.
Today I started riveting the metal nose piece on . I started off with one rivet in the top . I needed to drill some holes further back as the original holes had become too large. I glued some small pieces of leather into the old holes. Once the nose piece was in I tried to fit the frame. This was awkward! The leather has shrunk over the years plus I think it might have been under tension originally. I put a round screwdriver into the rear rivet holes to line up the holes and to pull the leather into position. I used a pair of welding grips to hold it in position whilst I fitted a copper rivet. I repeated this action until all the rivets were fitted

.

 

[Cycleops]

You've done well. Many would have shrunk from such a task and just ordered a new one.
I found a Swallow down for a fiver but it was just dirty. Came up nicely with some leather balm

 

[Reynard]

That looks like a proper job @Illaveago

 

[Illaveago]

You've done well. Many would have shrunk from such a task and just ordered a new one.
I found a Swallow down for a fiver but it was just dirty. Came up nicely with some leather balm

View attachment 661139

I wanted to restore as much of the bike as possible .

 

[Illaveago]

That looks like a proper job @Illaveago

Thanks . I'm using shoe polish on it now .

 

[Casper1978]

I have been gluing some strips of chamois leather and a small section of thicker leather on the underneath of my saddle . There were some large gaps where the old rivets used to be plus the side piece with the holes for laces had almost broken away. I glued the sections on with contact adhesive.
Today I started riveting the metal nose piece on . I started off with one rivet in the top . I needed to drill some holes further back as the original holes had become too large. I glued some small pieces of leather into the old holes. Once the nose piece was in I tried to fit the frame. This was awkward! The leather has shrunk over the years plus I think it might have been under tension originally. I put a round screwdriver into the rear rivet holes to line up the holes and to pull the leather into position. I used a pair of welding grips to hold it in position whilst I fitted a copper rivet. I repeated this action until all the rivets were fitted

View attachment 661124

View attachment 661128

View attachment 661131 .

Fair play , great attention to detail , love the fact that your restoring all the components and coming up with ideas for the repairs. Well done, love the paint and colour. Pat Mcquaid rode for viking 1978 ish, he had a short pro career.

 

[Illaveago]

Sad news ! I took my bike out with my repaired saddle for a road test . After 6 miles a crack started to appear on the nose section spreading from where the 2 front rivets were . By the time I got home another 6 miles the crack had become larger. I think that the leather had shrunk and that there wasn't any slack in the expander bolt to reduce the tension .

 

[Illaveago]

My experiment hasn't been a complete waste . I have a Brooks saddle which has had a similar repair . I assembled it in the wrong order by riveting the back of the frame first and forgot about the expander bolt . I was thinking about drilling out the rivets so that I could fit the bolt . This has shown me that it would have ended In a similar way as the expander doesn't have any slack left , at the moment I have fitted a long bolt and nut . I will try this saddle out to see how it works in practice .

 

[V-CC]

Extract from the 1968 catalogue.

 

[Illaveago]

Here is a frame that a friend has just given me. He thought it was a Severn Valley but it turns out to be a later version of the Conquest. I can remember him spraying it Ford Aubergine back in 1970. The original colour appears to have been flamboyant blue. The lugs are different to my red Conquest, not being as fancy but the rest of the frame is similar.
one of the rear seat stays needs sorting out as it has been bent to fit

larger rear sprockets.