Joe, the rear derailleur on the Lambert does appear to be a slant parallelogram in terms of geometry, but much cruder than any top end 70's era SunTour. The parallelogram is constructed of flat steel plates, like a Huret Svelto. Perhaps the very first slant parallelogram SunTours were like this. I can find no markings on the derailleur or the jockey wheels, neither Lambert nor SunTour. Does this sound like the original Lambert derailleur you refer to?
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Joseph Bender-Zanoni wrote:
> Carefully measure the diameter of the axle. I may have a tapered axle for
> you if you can live with a titanium one! The untapered axle setup will not
> hold up to much use. We machined tapered axles at the shop I worked at to
> solve the problems. The BB is not threaded except on the very earliest
> Lamberts, which had a conventional BB. Another BB solution is the Edco
> eccentric or the Mavic which do not depend on threads. I do not think
> threading to Italian is a good idea as the shell is not very thick if I
> remember.
>
> The first derailleurs I remember were steel Suntour copies which resulted
> in a lawsuit. Suntour ferociously protected the slant pantograph until the
> patent expired. On that issue, does anyone know if the Nivex works at a
> slant? It looks like it might in the Data Book.
>
> Joe Bender-Zanoni
> Remembering my brief experience selling Lamberts with trepidation
>
> At 09:17 AM 4/20/01 -0400, Moos, Jerry wrote:
> >I just bought a Lambert Grand Prix frame and death fork from the CR
> >classified page. It's a lugged steel one, purple and white with gold lined
> >lugs. The seller included many original parts from this and another frame,
> >so the bike is maybe 75% complete. The rear derailleur is steel,
> >medium-long cage, simple parallelogram rather like a Huret Svelto. Is this
> >an original Lambert derailleur? It also appears to have the infamous
> >Lambert BB with untapered axle. I've never owned a Lambert before, so maybe
> >someone can enlighten me. Is this BB threaded or is it pressed in as it
> >appears it may be? I have only the left arm, anyone have a Lambert right
> >arm for sale? Failing that, anyone know if a normal BB or normal axle can
> >be installed to allow use of another crank?
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Jerry Moos