Viscount frame BB help needed

Ok, call me daft (that's not an invitation...) but before i get a feckin huge hammer and chisel to my frame, am i taking the right action to get the below out?

Then, once thats done, i need a new bb as this thing....

... is just weird!!!!

Any ideas, anyone ever taken a viscount bb apart before? If so, what ya replace it with?

Ta!

can we get a straight on shot of left and right sides of the bb?

is that BB an octalink? or some kind of knock off?

the one on the ground. thats what i looks like to me

Hmm... this is all i can do at the mo as it's dark ere, do these help?

ive tried to turn the case with mole grips but it doesnt budge, i tapped it with a hammer but thought that if it is threaded, i'll just fnck the thread if i wallop it!

Not sure what it is, its a shimano quick release system jobbie!

it screws in by an allen key and locks onto the teeth you can see on the picture above (a few)

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lambert.html

interesting reading, apparently the bb cups are threadless... dont ask me why. you are probly going to have to pry them off some how.

http://bikecult.com/works/parts/bbViscount.html
they replaced the bb with a sealded baring one, but doesn't say how, maybe the pictures will help you out.

still betting octilink for the BB

one more for luck... sorry about quality... i zoomed in loads on an old photo!

You might be turning the cup the wrong way.

BB cups (not a whole 'case' but two separate 'cups') turn in opposite directions, the drive side cup will be rotating clockwise to get out of the frame and the non-drive cup needs to be turned counterclockwise to get out of the frame. (both cups loosen by rotating the same way as your front wheel turns whilst going forward)

The cups look more like they have bee pressed into the frame (?)

Put your finger in to the BB shell and feel for where the cup ends - there should be spare threads (if there are threads at all) as it is unlikely that the BB shell was taped to exactly the depth that the cup would screw in.

if you dot want to hammer the pressed cups off, try a head set remover

Yeah there are definately two cups instead of one... couldnt feel a thread though so sounds like a huge thwack with a hammer and chisel might be in order...

... or a headset remover..... hmmmmm

i see allot of warnings about the alu forks visconts come with... apparently they fail in a big way.

If they are pressed, you can remove them with an old bit of pipe.

Find something like copper plumbing pipe that fits through the BB shell/cups - cut it like the picture below and bend the prongs out a bit.

Feed the uncut (thinner) end through the BB/cup - all the way until the prongs go past the cup and pop out inside just behind the inside lip of the cup.

Get a hammer and then tap the non-pronged end until the cup pops out.

picture not working, give me a second

It looks like there is no way to rotate the BB cups - no splines or flats. So I can only assume they must be press fit.
But in the first photo it also looks like there are threads inside the BB shell extending inwards from the cup?!
Get stuck in with the hammer and chisel mate -if it is threaded you wont strip it without a BIG hammer!
EDIT - Tynan's idea is good - and copper pipe would mean you wont be stripping and threads if they do exist.

Here you go:

http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=1208

i think your looking at one of these to fit the cranks

Nah mate - that old crank is some propriatory shizzle my nizzle. Octalink is waaayy to new.
Send it to the National Cycle Collection!

Thankfully my Viscount has a British threaded BB shell, but on my hunt for parts when I was rebuilding it I came across this:
Viscount replacement BB bearing. (They also have a cheaper version of the same thing).
Once you've knocked the old BB out you're probably going to want a pair of these. Not sure what axle you would team them up with, but given that SJS is selling these specifically for Viscounts it's probably worth giving them a call for advice.
As for the whole "death fork" thing, it's pretty simple: if you've got alu forks (check with a magnet) and the frame is pre-1978 then you're going to want to switch them out. Otherwise no worries...

tynan Here you go:

Top! Thats a feckin good idea!

vegansdontneedgears i see allot of warnings about the alu forks visconts come with... apparently they fail in a big way.

Yeah i read about this before i bought it but thankfully the forks aren't the dreaded ones!

noggin Thankfully my Viscount has a British threaded BB shell, but on my hunt for parts when I was rebuilding it I came across this:
Viscount replacement BB bearing. (They also have a cheaper version of the same thing).
Once you've knocked the old BB out you're probably going to want a pair of these. Not sure what axle you would team them up with, but given that SJS is selling these specifically for Viscounts it's probably worth giving them a call for advice.
As for the whole "death fork" thing, it's pretty simple: if you've got alu forks (check with a magnet) and the frame is pre-1978 then you're going to want to switch them out. Otherwise no worries...

See i'm not sure why mine would be press fit, it was built in 1980 so i would have thought they would of been in the new world by then, what year is yours?

Mine's a mid/late 70's Aerospace Grand Touring, not sure of the exact date - it was my brother's bike, bought second-hand in '79 or '80. It was probably a couple of years old then, which puts it at '77/'78-ish. At that time, they were in the process of ditching the weird bespoke componentry and using more off-the-shelf stuff. Perhaps your frame was a late parts-bin special built with one of the last of the unthreaded BB shells? Your frame looks quite different to mine, which is lugless whereas yours appears to be lugged.

yeah mine is lugged beautifully, i can't find any record of this model anywhere on the internet so christ knows what year it was dragged out of! It's only the crank that is weird, the headset was pressfit so i guess this must be too.... gonna have to get a piece of copper like tynan described and give some elbow..... all fun :)

That looks like a threadless BB that was used to replace the original push fit one, aswell as my 69 steel lugged Lambert I have a later 70's Aerospace lugless one with deathfork just before they were bought out by Viscount.
The BB on that takes the cartridge bearings shown in an above link and is held in with circlips, apparently these had a tendency to fail at the circlip groove hence the replacement type.

Google Francis Thurmer of 'Hard to Find cycle parts' he does a BB that is basically a tube that tightens up on itself and works for threadless or damaged thread BBs

I know this thread is old, but

My bike shop knocked out my rusted Viscount BB out for a tenner. Despite the nice man's assurances that with its obsolete shell, the frame is scrap, I am going to try a threadless BB in it.

If that fails to be robust, I'll try a velo orange threadless BB in all its nu-fangled glory. In fact, has anyone got one I could try out, before I commit 50 smackers for a part of uncertain usefulness, out of a misplaced aversion to admitting defeat?

My belated summer project re-building an old Lambert as a SS was resurrected a couple of days ago.

Having cleaned out the (unthreaded) shell, I make the inside diameter 34-35mm. According to wiki Italian threaded BB shells should have an inside diameter of 34.6-34.9mm. My local LBS didn't have the tool to tap a thread into the shell, but I've found a slightly less local bike shop who say they may be able to do the job for less than £30.

My thoughts are that if I am unable to get the shell threaded I've lost nothing but a little time, whereas if successful the frame will become compatible with a range of Italian-threaded bottom brackets as well as the threadless options currently available to me.

Since the weather appears to be holding, I may take a stroll with the frame in question tonight and report back here afterwards.