He wore the right colour

My friend Tom keeps teasing me about my Viscount affection (he purposely pronounces it Vis-count, stressing the s), which is probably due to the fact that I won't stop talking about them, or making him ride my bikes, or unloading tons of fantastic and curious facts onto him, which he duly--albeit often with eyes rolling back into his sockets due to information overload--suffers through.
He's also the one I'm doing the Kona Cinder Cone up with, an apprentice bike mechanic--although far too capable to be an apprentice if you ask me. At heart, however, he's a motorcyclist, has been since he was a wee little lad and therefore understands being crazy about things.
Now, yesterday, something interesting happened: on the way from the bike shop back to my house (I'd invited him for dinner) he suddenly insisted on riding my blue Sport! Huh? You voluntarily want to ride a bike with no motor? What's wrong with you?
And off he went, going through all gears, checking the brakes and, eventually, doing what he does with every bike he sits his arse on: doing a few wheelies. (For those of you who have no clue what that is: it's lifting the front up and riding on the back wheel.) That's my Viscount's wheelie virginity taken care of. And it survived. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get my camera ready in time. Doh! Will deliver a wheelie picture when I make him ride the Red Flash.

Tom taking my Viscount for a spin

And the result is a big smile. 

The blue one is currently my favourite bike, since I feel it's an easy ride. I guess it's got to do with the skip tooth freewheel and the brakes are as sharp as disk brakes. Beautiful!
Anyway, Tom always said he wanted to see my 'workshop', which is essentially my flat and couldn't stop shaking his head about the many parts, frames, and bikes I have--a woman with a true obsession. And I'm proud of it! It's like a bug: you buy one Viscount, learn a few facts about them, then you start to dig deeper and will most certainly end up with a few of those fabulous bikes.
As many people I've told about those bikes, Tom has started to show some interest and was quite smitten by my NOS TitlistGS derailleur; not surprisingly, though, as it's a bit of rather sexy kit. By the way, I'll be picking up a Titlist front mech from my mate and Viscount family member John (he has even more bikes than I have), which will, after mirror polishing, go on the rally bike.

Before

Currently. You can see my reflection in the chain ring, but it's not there yet.

Speaking of mirror polishing: it's a bit of a pain in the backside and a task I don't have much patience for. Nevertheless, it needs to be done. I have the kit for the drill, with buffing wheels and compounds, but without a workshop with a vice, it's a disaster waiting to happen. I've 'borrowed' a bit of workshop space which has a grinder with buffering wheels and did a big of polishing there, but it's difficult to get into the corners and reach all the angles, which means it's probably better to do it by hand. And here's where Tom's experience will come in handy. All I want for the rally bike is to stand out with it beauty, the shiny parts, and I'm quite sure it'll ride as perfectly as it'll look.
Only two weeks to go!