After failing to get the fork cut for a 26.4mm crown race I got in touch with the great Barry Chick (of Alf Engers superbike fame) who cut and faced the fork and fitted the race for me. I picked it up Thursday night and hurriedly got home to fit it. with the bearings all greased I fitted the fork and on screwing on the top race I was horrified that the steerer only just came through the top bearing leaving nothing for the lock washer or top nut. My heart sank how could it be. Oh dear what to do now? No going back to the original as the crown race would now flop about. I had put both headsets side by side and they was close to being the same height, less than 1mm difference. What I had not noticed was the original headset went in to the frame a lot further so although the overall height was near the same the stack height was nearly 7.5mm different. I then went round measuring what I needed above the top race which worked out to between 6mm and 8mm. A quick measure of the head tube showed enough below and above the top and down tube to be able to cut the required off. So I stripped the bike down and removed the headset from the frame then masked up the head tube and top tube just in case of a slip with the saw. As it was getting late and I was tiered I thought it best to leave the cutting until the next day.
So Friday evening I took a deep breath and cut 6mm from the head tube. all went well and the cut was less than .25mm out of square not bad seeing as I had cut it freehand very slowly and feeling sick and slightly sweaty. Saturday afternoon I went to the very busy Senova Cycles in Hertford where Erol did a great job of reaming and facing the head tube while I went to Boots to get some black nail varnish to give the bare metal a bit of protection.
Saturday evening I spent building up the bike with no further surprises. I can recommend the waxed cotton 1mm thread sold on
ebay at £1.50 for 9 meters which I used to whip the bar tape. So much nicer that a bit of electrical tape.
Sunday I went on a 38 mile test ride. And what a ride the Viscount is. Smooth, quick but stable steering and almost silent. the Dura Ace hubs are a revelation they just roll and roll, the brakes work and the gears all just slip in almost silently. I have not used any mid 70's Campagnolo but they would have been hard pushed to better the Shimano offering.
