In a message dated 9/25/2002 10:14:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time, cbeyer2@volvocars.com writes:
<< Marty: Those are most assuredly NOT TA cranks; they just look similar. The Lambert used a non-tapered bottom bracket axle, making the cranks interchangeable with nothing else. Chris>>
<< From: mmeison@scubadiving.com Subject: [CR]Lambert
I'm not sure about all of the original Lamberts but I had one of the Viscounts (Lambert rebadged by Yamaha) and they all came with TA double chainrings. I've seen a few earlier Lamberts and they were I seem to recall all doubles also. Marty "I rode the death for and survived" Eison Dallas Texas >>
Lambert was not just rebadged into Viscount. Changes were made and a deviation from the original Lambert components and philosophy ensued. They were really pretty different.
All Lamberts (and Reg Harris & Vikings of that brief period) were triples:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com./
It is pretty much confirmed that TA made the crank arms under a private labeling contract. The designs were different from TA's regular line and had no TA markings. The first Lambert versions (1st year or two of production) were normal tapered spindles, later the straight shaft bb spindle with bumpers came along. These last designs spelt the end of the Lambert design thrust, as they chronically loosened and became, in the subsequent Viscount model evolution, conventional cranksets from Japanese manufacturers.
I contend that the very first batches of Lamberts, into their all sealed bearing models, 2-3 years out, were one of the bravest, if fool hardy, attempts at bicycle manufacturing of all time! In the addition to Lambert being the first company to extensively use sealed precision bearings in a production bikes, they also really tried to think outside the box in the sense of either manufacturing or private labeling almost every component on the bikes.
By the time Viscount really settled in, the new company slowly backed away from all those unique Lambert characteristics, making it become "just another bike"..
Dale Brown
Greensboro, North Carolina