i was poking around the bike shops near the in-laws...hiding in the back of one shop was a cool looking lugged frame. It is a Lambert, with the original Death Fork. It seems to be in pretty good condition. The red paint is very worn, the rear de shifts smoothly (front not so much), and the hubs seem to be in great condition. The front chainwheel looks to be a solid chunk-o metal. Rims are old mavics...they seema bit tired. It has bar-end shifters, and quick release skewers.

I know the BB is oddball but can be adapted (by a frame builder) to take italian bb's. Am I going to run into any terrible trouble with the other parts?

I was thinking that it would be great to restore this (with a non-lethal fork), but I'm not sure how to handle the worn-out stickers. The other option is to just say screw it, remove all stickers, and try a new paint job.

I would be riding this every day (8 miles total), and occasionally on longer rides.

The owner of the shop is asking $125, which is what I expected. Thoughts?

Might be a little overpriced; for comparison's sake, here's another Lambert on the SF Bay Area craigslist for $120.

https://www.craigslist.org/sby/bik/141075718.html

And if you decide to pop for the red one, I can make you up some new decals.

I rode a Lambert as my commuter bike for a couple of years until selling it recently and did replace the death fork at some point. It had a conventional English-thread bottom bracket. Now I'm the proud owner of a Viscount (see https://tinyurl.com/ztr3r). That one had the original cartridge bearing bottom bracket, which badly needed replacing. It was easy to find the press-fit bearings ($5 each at loosescrews.com) and I happened on a ActionTec titanium bottom bracket spindle ($20 on eBay), so for $30 I have a smooth-as-silk bottom bracket that should last for 30 plus years. You can reuse the original spindle, but they're prone to failure at the circlip grooves (see https://bikecult.com/works/parts/bbViscount.html).

Fwiw, I don't think $125 is outrageous for the Lambert if it has a decent wheel set and the cool original crank.

Neal

Yeah, the paint/decals look great on that one. The one I'm looking at is a bit ratty in that department.

Wheels seem to be in good shape, although I wouldn't feel comfortable getting up to speed on those tires...the BB felt good, although I'm probably the kind of person that could break a spindle.

Any clue what the spacing is of the wheels?

I'm not sure if these rims will take clinchers...where I ride there's lots of puncture possibilities, and I'd rather not deal with that kind of thing.

Rear spacing on my Viscount is 126mm. I'd imagine the Lambert is about the same, so that's fairly standard. Are you sure the current wheels are tubulars? Some Lambert models did come with sew-ups, but not all. See https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bri...bertspec72.htm.

Neal

HI Neal. I'm not sure about the wheels, actually. I think the guy said the wheels are 700 which would make them sew-up according to the brochures that have been posted. Either way I think I'm getting a new wheelset for daily riding. And, as I said, a new fork. I won't be getting rid of anything unless someone needs it.

Zorak...
I think any 1" fork will work.
Lambert / Yamaha mailed us the fork for our '77 about a year after
my father got it. Its sort of ugly though....straight chrome.
One that is colormatched to the frame would probably look better.
USAZORRO is an expert on using sew-ups as daily riders

Good Luck and dont forget the pics !

Not true. 700c and sew-ups are the same diameter at the brakes, but 700c wheels are not sewups.

Well I think I'm sold. I'll trapse into the shop around 10 and pay the guy 125 and thank him for having a cool bike hanging around in the back. Then I'll head back to my shop and start getting this thing setup for my daily ride. And to think I was about to buy a brand new bike...

Commuted on one for years, death fork and all. I also put on
the new chrome fork (tange?) that Yamaha sent out.
Mine was a Viscount, suntour cyclone derailleurs. The
BB shell is as you say, different. My lbs at the time said it could
be tapped for Italian threading.

Someday I'll get that Aerospace Pro back. . .

marty

I found a Lambert (it's fillet welded so some forum member said it was a Viscount) on a sidewalk for trash pickup. Couldn't sell it whole or by parting it out. So I'm going to attempt to modernize the awful BB with a sealed unit (to utilize a modern crank) and replace the death fork with a contemporary peugeot fork. Can reuse everything else. It's a sweet frame - very light for steel. I just can't toss it but the wife is getting tired of hearing about it!