How long ...?

... before they'll finally come with the straitjacket, that was what I thought yesterday, when I rode past a bike that I'd seen before out of the corner of my eye, but never bothered to stop. Until, well, yesterday. I even squeaked a bit, catching the attention of a guy who cycled in the other direction. A reaction like this can only mean one thing: I'd spotted another Viscount.
And what a lovely one at that. A Viscount President ladies' frame. I've only ever seen men's President frames and was delighted to see this little gem. Quite in good nick it was, too, and clearly loved by its owner as it's locked with a D- and cable lock--something that always pleases me to see. On any bike, I might add! Anyway, I stopped and took some pictures.

Viscount President ladies' spotted in London

This is how you lock a bike!

Guess you can't find those batteries anymore

And now to the crazy part: today, when I passed it again, I left a note on the bike, hoping for the owner to pop by the Viscount & Lambert bikes board to tell her/his story about how s/he came to the bike. We are always excited to meet new owners and welcome everyone with open arms.
So hopefully the person will pop by.

On a different note, also regarding a blue Viscount: since I'm going to change the stem of my blue Aerospace Sport, I'll also toss the white handlebar tape. As comfortable as it is, it just gets too dirty. Therefore I've decided to try blue retro bar tape, which fits the bike's colour perfectly--I hope.

I'm sure it'll look smashing and, thanks to eBay, I didn't have to splash out too much. Furthermore, I've secured myself some old-fashioned Continental tyres which I'm going to use for my rally bike. That's next week's ride sorted for me to the south of London. If I ever find the place to pick the tyres up, that is.
So next week or the week after, I'll get cracking with the seat post removal, and will document every step of the way, then bring the frame to Amourtex to get it powder coated.
Here's a reminder of the frame with the mangled seat post:

A great challenge

I have high hopes to free it and will enlist the help of Noah and his vice. Together, we removed a few seat posts and it's definitely a two-(wo)men job. Fingers crossed!