Originally Posted by
Sactown_Albert
I’ll scrounge in our quill stem box at the co-op to see if there are any longer GB or GB adjacent stems with the right vibe for this excellent build.
That's very kind of you! I imagine that the shipping cost from California to Ottawa would be out the window, though.
Originally Posted by
Velo Mule
I like it. Every part of it, right down to the wing nuts on the front hub. If it were mine, I would touch up the paint or leave it as is. All my bikes are aquired in ratty condition. The Lambert got touched up rather than painted and from a few feet away took pretty good.
The origional paint looks to be a lacquer, based on the cracking pattern.
You can see the touch ups even in this picture, but it is better than it was.
I really like your Lambert. I think the Wasp paint is enamel. The photos hide how rough the Wasp paint is in person, and since it will see spring rainy weather and fall rainy weather rides, I'll need to do something for the exposed steel areas beyond the current wax I'm using. There's a shop in Montreal with a good reputation for painting bikes with some reasonably priced packages. I've already got the decals, I might investigate a strip and spray, with some lug details and while I don't anticipate keeping the original colours, I'd like to do the same seat tube and head tube difference in a cream-white and perhaps a continental blue for the rest of the frame (which I think was an option on these bikes). Might be a next summer thing. As much as I like the patina, I don't want the frame to get into trouble when its survived 75 years. With fresh paint, maybe it'll be around 75 more. Thanks for mentioning the wing nuts - I really like wing nuts, they aren't perfect (nor are these '70s French ones even great quality) compared to quick-release options of the day, but I like the look and for a fixed-gear it harkens back to the 1950s roots of the frame itself. I think if I do a new paint job, I'll find the bike some period English hubs...maybe.