A brace of Butlers

[biggs682]

over the last couple of weeks a couple of new to me Claud Butlers from the 70's & 80's have landed at chez biggs

1dt up is a mid 70's Cavalier one original owner from new who under strict orders from his daughter had to give up cycling . Its drive line had more oil and grease on than any other one i have seen .

He had done all his own service work on it and it rides sweet as a nut , and getting better as the miles clock on .

Next up is a bit later Sierra model with full 501 Reynolds tubing , no idea of history on this one .

My intention on this is to make it nice and light and an ideal winter bike for me or a n other , so have fitted a set of sprint & tub wheels to replace the original alloys . Only had 1 commute and a short test round the block so early days .

Even thinking about fitting a set of carbon drops and stem to help with the weight but will see .

 

[LocalLad]

Very nice. My last bike before I started driving and lost my way with cycling was a Claude Butler...loved that bike, but it got stolen

 

[biggs682]

Must admit they always have a good following

 

[FrankCrank]

....I 'ate you Butler is doing the rounds right now - can't say that about those two...........

 

[raleighnut]

Nice.

 

[wisdom]

Excelled again biggsy

 

[screenman]

I had a lugless when I was 15 which was 45 years ago, it was nicked.

The Claude Butlers were later made buy Falcon, who to be honest were not the same breed.

 

[biggs682]

Well here is the Sierra which as you can see has been fitted with a set of carbon bars and stem along with a quill converter .

Rides nice with these mods as i found it all a bit cramped with the flat bars on

 

[mikeymustard]

That's a proper hybrid - of old and new! I'm not sure about the looks of the bars and particularly stem, but I can see the sense in them, not just weight but width, I'm quite wide and vintage bars seem very narrow these days.

 

[biggs682]

must admit 60 miles now covered with new bars and stem combo and i like it , it looks cleaner than expected and is certainly more comfy than it was .

The tubs and sprints give a nice ride as well and look the part so all in all very happy chappy who just needs to take a link or two out of the new chain just fitted

 

[mikeymustard]

It certainly does look the part - I could easily imagine that sitting in pride of place at the better sort of lbs with a 4 figure price tag, even the paint job looks proper retro modern!

 

[biggs682]

Another 25 miles done and a link removed from the chain and the old gal is running nice and sweet

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Nice. I had a CB hybrid a few years back and spent a lovely afternoon because of it chatting to a very old gent who's first bike had been a CB just before the war, he approached me because he'd not seen one in ages and it took him back to his cycling days.

 

[biggs682]

Nice. I had a CB hybrid a few years back and spent a lovely afternoon because of it chatting to a very old gent who's first bike had been a CB just before the war, he approached me because he'd not seen one in ages and it took him back to his cycling days.

they have a rather cult following with the older population just a shame the latest ones do not live up to the name