Acquired this a bit while back for near nothing. I've long had a mild curiosity of them, the hoopla, marketing and the 'death' of them. Given this one was basically original and likely improved over the Lambert era, I've still yet plan to make some changes. To heck with the purist, I plan on really using it and not fuss whats original or not. Though the changes will be in keeping of the era. Decided to photo document it and will be a work in progress.

For starters, the factory advert showing the non drive side, and of course the original CL listing was the same.
(Note the location of cable mounts on the top tube. Jeepers.)

[IMG]viscount-ad lambert by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Image from seller and as acquired
[IMG]viscount8 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]


And to get the death fork out of the way, er' rather keep! As a joke, this fellow has the AVA death stem and matching bars.

[IMG]DSC_1047 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Peeled the layers of grime away and stripped. No issues with frame or fork, straight, ding free and no fractures. Cosmetics are good enough for a rider and impressed there's no rust. A few paint touch-ups but have to say, the factory paint is durable yet not glamorous. Somewhere I read they're electro-statically enamel applied paint.

[IMG]DSC_1115 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1118 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1117 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1089 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1116 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Debatable if in fact uses butted / double tubing but here's a few specs on this one plus weight.

Frame:
Made in England by Phoenix 4130 cold drawn seamless alloy steel tubing (Lambert called it 1027)
lugless, low temp hand brazed
Viscount dropouts, 126mm axle width

seat tube angle 73 degree
head tube angle 72 degree
head tube length 15.5cm end to end
top tube 57cm ctr-ctr
seat tube 58cm ctr-ctr
down tube 63cm ctr-ctr
chainstay 42.5cm
seat stay 53.5 ctr-ctr
wheelbase --
weight 1989gm

[IMG]DSC_1096 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1093 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1091 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1090 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

I like their use of sealed cartridge roller bearings for the bottom bracket and hubs. These were dried out and replacements are common, approx. cost $5 each. Simple DIY job without use of a press. Simply removed both snap rings, set the frame across my lap, inserted a small capscrew in one end and tapped the spindle out. Next was using a drift punch to knock each of the bearings out.

[IMG]DSC_1088 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1077 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Spindle is hollow just beyond the grooves. 252 gm total. Later type having the tapered square.

Japan bearing
[IMG]DSC_1081 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Vi Kount.... Hooked on phonics??

I believe this is a 1976 production. Many already know the story if the infamous aluminum death fork. Not going to dwell about here but this one has a steel steerer, pinned.

Fork: Viscount / A356-T6 aluminum blades and cast crown, 2 inch rake 894gm

[IMG]DSC_1101 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1099 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1098 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1097 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Fairly heavy at 894 gm
[IMG]DSC_1107 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Ver doh

Unknown brand and cheapo headset. Though, loose balls appear healthy

[IMG]DSC_1055 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

This Shimano 500 and Thunderbird stuff is going bye-bye.

[IMG]DSC_0993 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Replacing with SunTour
Rear derailleur: Suntour V-luxe
Front derailleur: Suntour Compe V
Shifters: Cyclone Mk1 levers. The levers have the detailed ornamental chain.

[IMG]DSC_1057 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

V for Viscount!
[IMG]DSC_1062 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Was missing the correct pivot mount screw, so I'm using another Suntour marked but have to make a bushing for it.

Original seatpost is a straight tube Birmalux that uses a standard BMX type rail clamp. Happened to have a 26.8 d SR Laprade that fits with perfection.

[IMG]DSC_1064 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

70's suede baby! It gets a San Marco 312X with ally rails

[IMG]DSC_1119 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1121 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Very nice going, and good pictures.

These bikes held a mystique for me when I was 15 or so, the most impressionable age. I jumped on a chance to get one about four years ago. I converted the drivetrain to 3-speed fixed gear, which I didn't care for, so now it's a regular (single-speed) fixed gear. It's a great light bike for the city, and the ride is pretty plush. The chainstays didn't allow me to use a tire wider than 32mm, and that was with only 1mm between tire and chainstay.

The centerpull brakes were a big marketing thing for the company. Can't say until I use them but they surely are rough and crude looking. I replaced the pad inserts with Kool Stop 4 dot reds.

Thought about using some first gen Superbe calipers and levers but would be out of the Viscount character.

[IMG]DSC_0998 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_0997 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]KOOL stop pads by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

One serviced, one to do~

[IMG]DSC_1108 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Thanks, Tom. Funny you mention the tire width. This bike was equipped with 27" Birmalux ally clinchers. Supposedly the tubular 700c by Birmalux are difficult to find and if so, pricey. With that, decided to maybe with the slight diameter difference go with the bizarre Super Champion Mixte 700c rims. Will have some choices and perhaps slight taller rubber. Can use as wired clincher or tubular and super tough. Its a 'what the heck, why not?'

[IMG]DSC_0218 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_0215 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]mixte rim d by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Nothing wrong with the Viscount/Lambert centerpull brakes, in my experience. Not great lookers, but perfectly acceptable stoppers, and that's what counts, right?

Re: the "death fork..."

Although it is aluminum, it's not particularly light. My 3rd generation "death fork" actually weighs more than an identical-size Reynolds 531 steel fork. I suspect a modern unicrown fork using 4130 chrome-moly would be even lighter, not to mention, safer.

Being anything Shimano on it is being removed, including the freewheel I decided going with SunTour 888 Perfect 14-16-18-21-24 / 415gm. These things spin so nicely and near foolproof.

[IMG]DSC_1102 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1104 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Those rims look good. I built a lot of wheels at a shop in NYC in 1982-1983 or so, and we liked Mavic rims the best. They still make some of the best rims.

My Viscount came with 27" Milremo rims. They look like the crappy Weinmann rims I remember from that period. I gave the wheels away.

Back in the 70s I put a pair of the tubular wheels that came off a Viscount onto my Raleigh Gran Sport. They lightened my bike a lot, and I enjoyed riding them. The Viscount/Lambert hubs were styled to look good, but the workmanship wasn't so great, just as it was with all Lambert components. Still, it all worked fine. The brakes are particularly good.

Another thing I didn't like about my Viscount was the extremely deep handlebars. I could never use the drops of those bars.

Neat! I've never seen photos of the fork construction before!

Were the crown and blades all cast together? Or are the fork blades tubular and glued to the crown? Interesting, regardless of which it is!


Steve in Peoria

FWIW, I've had a set of Super Champion Mixte rims in service for many years now. I've had no problems with them, although I've only used wired-on tires with them, not tubulars.

The blades and crown were cast as a single unit, with a short plug onto which the steel steer tube was pinned. There were three iterations of the design, with the final version considered to be the safest (albeit still recalled by the CPSC).

No copyright here but I found this post elsewhere and one of the best insights to its history. I think it clears up lots of rumors and or false stories.

--------------------

The real story behind the brand name Viscount

FROM: Lambert & Viscount bikes: History Part 2

Anonymous1 August 2012 at 22:56

My name is John McLaren Jr.
My father, John Sr. was Senior Vice President of Yamaha International Corporation , located in Buena Park, California, from 1966 to the end of 1980. I have plenty of information on the Viscount bike, since it was one of my father's many projects at Yamaha.

The bikes were imported and distributed by Yamaha here in California. It was to be placed in the Yamaha Sporting Goods division ( Yamaha manufactured skis, tennis racquets, golf clubs and so forth). The Yamaha Sporting Group division was part of Yamaha Musical Instruments. Yamaha Motorcycles was a completely separate company, still part of Yamaha but operated as a separate company. Originally, Yamaha distributed the Lambert brand of bikes for a couple of years, until the factory's closure.

For the record, Yamaha never owned Viscount or Lambert, it was simply the distributor. The Marriott family (hotels, etc) was not involved in Lambert or Viscount, it was another gentleman with the same last name Marriott, I believe his first name was Clive.

A company called Cope Allman, an English conglomerate who owned Bell-Fruit slot machines, famous for their "one-armed bandit" machines, purchased Trusty Children's Bikes, who eventually under the direction of Cope Allman and Bill Pilkington
(chairman) purchased the assets of Lambert bikes and it became part of Trusty Bikes. Bill Pilkington was encouraged by my father to buy the assets of Lambert and in turn my father agreed to import and distribute 200,000 bikes through Yamaha's distribution channels.

Since Lambert had very bad quality problems, the name was changed by my father to Viscount, one reason for this was there was excess inventory of cap bolts in the factory that had "L" on them, the 'L' was of equal lengths, so by turning the bolt you could have a 'V'. The reason why my father chose Viscount, a little bit of my mom's background: my parents immigrated from England in 1959 and before they were married my mother lived in the United States on a work visa. She became an airline stewardess in the late '50s and worked for Capitol airlines, who had a new British plane, the Vickers Viscount. At the time it was like the Concord, it was powered by 4 Rolls-Royce turboprop engines and was all first-class. The plane was advertised as "a new concept in flight". The Vickers Viscount was heavily promoted as an aerospace breakthrough.

My father's plan was to do the same with the Viscount bike, to promote it as being "of aerospace quality". One advertisement had a private jet on a runway with a Viscount bike in front.

Part of the agreement with Trusty was to improve the quality of the Viscounts, replacing some components with Shimano products. My father had requested 20 finished prototype bikes to be sent to Yamaha Motorcycle division for testing the frame and all associated components. After the tests were conducted, the bikes were found to be safe and in order. There is a lot more information that I have, as well as a CD interview with my father on the Viscount bikes, I'll keep you posted.

John, would you happen to know the reason for the narrow tangs at the fork ends?
[IMG]DSC_1101 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

I remember the fork recall, but was the design flaw discovered as a result of some injury-causing failures? Did anyone actually die from such a failure?

I dig them big graceful arcing hooks. Comparable to Cinelli del Mondo's. Believe the bars were made by Birmalux. The cast stem is Viscount. Well finished and pretty appearance. For the record, this one has a 90mm reach.

I've yet to learn or see anything archival verifying. Fork failure, yes.

Great info and detail. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

How much side to side play is in that spindle?

In off-topic Campy, they use a leaf spring and any play is not noticeable.