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Post by guybagnall on Feb 1, 2021 23:14:43 GMT
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Post by guybagnall on Feb 1, 2021 23:23:24 GMT
www.pedalroom.com/bike/lambert-44753#photo362277www.pedalroom.com/bike/lambert-44753#photo362278I was told this is a 1972 Lambert - it is the lugless frame, porthole chainset, 10 speeds. It came with the Lambert front hub/Milremo rim as spare. It has a Simplex rear derailleur, which could possibly be original. It was supplied by a Finchley bike shop, probably when the factory had run out of cash flow, as otherwise all bikes were intended as export-only to the USA. the rear hub is Maillard Normandy with a mavic e2 rim, assumed not original, freewheel Regina (Italian). The seat is Malaysian origin but on the Lambert seat stem (Campag copy). I'm not clear which model it is - although similar to the 'Lambert Aerospace Professional' as in the US ads, which may date from 1976, when the Lambert name was still being used although owned by 'Viscount'. www.pedalroom.com/bike/lambert-44753#photo362282
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Post by wheelson on Feb 2, 2021 3:04:18 GMT
Hello, Peter.
I saw your "needs" list over on CR list. Several of us here are members over there as well. Since it's a US-originated list, that's probably a good move as to finding Lambert and Viscount bikes and components. I may have some extra Lambert components, I'll look and see what I don't have a use for and see what it takes to get some to you. I only own one Lambert but I have five Viscounts, one actually rideable!
You've doubtless read about the "death fork" and unless yours is the third version with the steel insert, I'd personally advise that you get a good steel fork to replace the original unless it's for show only. My rideable Viscount came with a steel fork, an original from a Gran Sport. Two others have the third version but, at 72 years old and already sporting two near life ending bike "incidents", I'll ride mine only on special occasions and will do a quick change for any serious or extended rides - most of my riding being on gravel rail trails or towpaths.
Your photos show a really nice bike. If it were mine, I'd use a Shimano Crane or Titlist rear derailleur - they were OEM on many Viscounts and shift remarkably well, as does the front Titlist. Again, it depends on whether it's for "show or go". There's a Lambert freewheel on US eBay right now for around $45. I think it's the only one I've ever seen.
Anyway, good luck with your restoration. I'll try to help if I can.
Best,
John "wheelson" Wilson
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Post by brianbutler on Feb 3, 2021 13:13:11 GMT
If you find (or buy the eBay) Lambert freewheel, I recommend putting it on a shelf and using a replacement for day to day riding. Ditto for other consumable items. It would also be wise to pull out the pedal caps for safekeeping. And I second Wheelson's advice about the replacement fork. A few of us have had good luck with this one:
It has the same appearance and geometry as the aluminum death fork.
Brian |
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Post by guybagnall on Feb 3, 2021 22:48:43 GMT
Hi Brian - Why the shelf for the freewheel? I haven't ID'd the fork, but I was told it's probably a mk3. If that's the case, I understand there are no known failures of that version? Thank you for the consumable advice, I get that. I'm coming to the view my bike was a fire-sale special, out the back door of the factory to a bike-shop and with a bunch of tool-box parts when the Lambert's had run out - eg the seat clamp bolt, which is pure parts-box!
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Post by brianbutler on Feb 4, 2021 3:35:55 GMT
I was counting the freewheel as a consumable, probably good for less than 10,000 miles.
Brian
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Post by 54roadie on Feb 5, 2021 18:01:48 GMT
Hello and welcome,
Your bike is close to identical to one of mine, a Viscount "Gran Prix", right down to the SKS fenders (mudguards, if you prefer). It's a fun ride and yours looks to be in good condition. I've always liked the white with red paint jobs. You'll get lots of healthy advice in these boards, and if you have a Mk 3 fork you might just be able to score a pair of "aluminum death fork" stickers that Bendo, I think had made up.
Good luck, and have fun.
Frank
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,390 
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Post by Jem on Feb 5, 2021 21:56:02 GMT
if you have a Mk 3 fork you might just be able to score a pair of "aluminum death fork" stickers that Bendo, I think had made up. I'd forgotten all about those! |
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robt
Viscount
Posts: 559
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Post by robt on Feb 6, 2021 13:12:54 GMT
if you have a Mk 3 fork you might just be able to score a pair of "aluminum death fork" stickers that Bendo, I think had made up. I'd forgotten all about those!  P1000829 by RMT@261, on Flickr Jem, Let me have your home address on a PM and I'll stick a couple of these in your birthday card next month. When's the big day? |
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,390
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Post by Jem on Feb 7, 2021 10:21:43 GMT
Rob - you generous beauty you!
It's early March. I'll PM you
Jem
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Post by franco on Feb 7, 2021 22:33:20 GMT
I'd forgotten all about those! by RMT@261, on Flickr Jem, Let me have your home address on a PM and I'll stick a couple of these in your birthday card next month. When's the big day? Haha, cool!  |
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Post by theformeremployee on Mar 5, 2021 10:36:28 GMT
""
I'm not clear which model it is - although similar to the 'Lambert Aerospace Professional'
as in the US ads, which may date from 1976, when the Lambert name was still being used
although owned by 'Viscount'. ""
Not 1976 !
Can I please clarify that early in 1974, Trusty Manufacturing Co Ltd bought the company, stock, work in progress & factory lease of 'Lambert Cycles' (Lambert of England Ltd, according to the decals)
in Bilston, England from the Receiver appointed in December 1973 by the preferential creditor, NatWest Bank. Trade suppliers got very little of their outstanding invoices paid. For example, Copal who made the cranks, stem, seat pins, pedals, brake arms and hubs would have funded the tooling, planning to amortise it against the 50,000 a month promised bicycle production. They ended up making a few thousand castings which were not paid for in total. The tooling which Copal owned would have been scrapped.
I didn't mention 'goodwill' in that list : it was ill-will in England and a bad reputation in the USA for the product.
Stock in a warehouse in California would have been included in this arrangement.
Yamaha Sporting Goods were at this stage involved as sole importers for the USA for both marques,
and would have probably paid next to nothing to the Receiver (or Trusty, since there was a separate Lambert Inc in the USA, not controlled by UK bankruptcy legislation) for the USA stock.
From purchase date in 1974 and creating the 'Viscount'* name a few weeks later, there was a process to get rid of as much of the Lambert 'name',
as possible. As little as possible was re-used 'Lambert' brand hubs were still being sold by wholesalers several years later.
It is quite possible that the USA warehouse contained some of the 1973 'Lambert' stock and it would have been a hell of a job to shift it when the better Viscount stock started to flow into the States.
The Lambert name was not being 'used' in 1976, but USA shops may have had old stock or have bought up at a big discount anything left over. It's 45 years ago - few people are around who can remember exactly. More (like me) can remember better what happened between early 1974 and the end of 1977 in the USA and UK and the rest of the world.
A few hundred Lambert bikes got shunted out of the Bilston factory to UK bike shops early in 1974. They could have been sold at an enticing discount to 'Joe Public'. Their remains turn up on Fleabay from time to time. One recently still had a legible dealer's sticker. The shop in London still exists.
Sorry to go on at length about what really happened - history does need to be written as accurately as possible.
* That name was created by John MacClaren of Yamaha - his wife had been an air hostess on the very popular Viscount passenger aircraft, built in Britain in large numbers in the 1950s. |
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