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Old 05-25-13 | 05:25 PM
  #523  
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JohnDThompson
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Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Appleton WI

Bikes: Several, mostly not name brands.

Originally Posted by Mumonkan
Viscount is a real company? I have a turbo knockoff from them in my parts box

my bum dun like turbo shape.
Viscount saddles are entirely separate from Viscount bicycles. Viscount bicycles was born out of the ashes of the bankrupt Lambert of England back in the early 1970s when Yamaha purchased what was left of Lambert. Lambert was an unusual company and produced most of their own components to help keep the price down. Some of these were quite innovative at the time, e.g. sealed bearing hubs and bottom bracket, needle bearing pedals, others were blatant rip-offs of other companys' designs which got them in some hot water and didn't help their financial situation. The frames were hand fillet-brazed from quite light gauge chrome-moly tubing and the final product was much lighter than anything else in its price class. The "death fork" was a solid aluminum casting with a steel steer tube pinned to the aluminum crown. These had a reputation for cracking at the pins, hence the "death fork" moniker, and Yamaha recalled them and replaced them with steel forks. Production continued in England for several years, but by the late 70s was phased out and subsequent Viscount bikes were made in Japan using standard lugged construction and components.

Viscount saddles were produced by a Taiwanese company that specialized in supplying entry-level components for Japanese manufacturers and had no connection (that I know of, anyway) with Yamaha or Viscount bicycles.

Last edited by JohnDThompson; 05-25-13 at 05:30 PM.
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