Re: [CR]Date this Viscount!?

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 13:29:34 -0600
From: "John Thompson" <JohnThompson@new.rr.com>
Organization: The Crimson Permanent Assurance
To: Paul Williams <castell5@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [CR]Date this Viscount!?
References: <004401c4de61$1c3759c0$6400a8c0@gc.ca.pch.gc.ca>
In-Reply-To: <004401c4de61$1c3759c0$6400a8c0@gc.ca.pch.gc.ca>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Paul Williams wrote:
> Yes I am the one on Viscount Avenue in Ottawa who got Mark's Viscount
> recently as a winter project.
>
> It came with a Viscount chainset, hubs, stem, brake levers marked
> Lambert, GB 77 calipers, Shimano 500 RD, Shimano 50 FD, Shimano FW,
> Nisi(?) rims, Tange headset ...
>
> It is white with faux lugs painted on in red - similar to the one on
> Dale's Lambert/Viscount page.
>
> Is this mix of parts of the right vintage for what seems to be an
> early to mid-70s Viscount? What is the date of the derailleurs? Could
> they be original? It is missing gear levers - these seem to have been
> bar-ends and the cable-guide on the downtube is Huret!

The early Viscounts had quite the mish-mash of parts, as they were using up the old Lambert stock. I purchased a Lambert build kit back in the mid 70s (everything but the frame) when Lambert first went belly-up. This package included Lambert branded cranks, brake and levers, shifters, front derailleur, hubs (laced into wheels with unremarkable rims) but a Simplex rear der. I've seen others with a mix of Lambert, SunTour, Shimano, and Simplex in almost any permutation you can imagine.

The later Viscounts standardized on Shimano equipment when the Lambert stock was gone.

--

-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA