1951 claud butler olympic sprint

[alecstilleyedye]

i acquired this little beauty through a clubmate, thinking i was just getting an old frameset for a fixie project.

she was needing only new tubs, bar tape and a saddle, but did come with a full set of sprockets and chainrings and a beast of a chainwhip which rescembles some sort of medieval torture instrument.

now road-worthy, she's great to ride, even over long distances. sadly, the chainring bolts have had to be replaced as they rattled out 40 miles from home and she was ridden home with the chainring held on with zipties.

Frame: butted reynolds 531 with bi-laminate (fillet brazing) welding, avant-coureur lugs and wrap-over seat stays.
Fork: double crown steel
Stem: strata
Handlebar: maes gb
Bar Tape: brooks leather
Brake Calipers: galli single pivot
Brake Pads: £2 a pair from lbs (like on kids' bikes). they wear out so easily that they won't damage the rim
Chain: british made 3/37"
Cranks: stronglight cottered 165mm
Chainrings: easy change 46, 48 or 50 aluminium
Bottom Bracket: bayliss-wiley
Pedals: chater-lea sprint
Rims: fiamme sprint aluminium
Hubs: bh airlite large flange
Spokes: tied and soldered by reg harris' mechanic
Tyres: vittoria rally tubular
Saddle: brooks b17 special
Seatpost: aluminium

 

[Old Ned]

That's very nice. Is it a respray? Do the rear wheel wingnuts stay tight? I used to find that the rear wheel would pull over with them so used nuts.

 

[Spokesmann]

Great classic looking machine.

 

[paininthe]

British bike day today? And another fine example

 

[Spokesmann]

British bike day today? And another fine example

Personally Im fed up 'Italian Bike Day'

 

[Goldie]

Bloody hell! That's really lovely...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

That's very nice. Is it a respray? Do the rear wheel wingnuts stay tight? I used to find that the rear wheel would pull over with them so used nuts.

good spot. her original paint scheme is the orange colour all over. she was re-enammelled in 1962 which is why the claud butler badge on the seat tube shows a holdsworth era se20 address. took a while to track down what she actually was; the frame number and laminate lugs were the smoking gun.

the rear wingnuts are plenty tight enough, although they'd be banned from a velodrome.

the sprint wheels are bh airlite hubs built on fiamme rims, with the spokes tied and soldered by the chap who was reg harris' mechanic. the brooks saddle and tape are completely contemporary, although a b17 was what the bike would have been supplied with, although probably a competition spec. at £45 in 1951, you would be looking at something like a carbon colnago today in terms of relative price.

 

[Jonny69]

Great looking bike. The more I look at it the more I notice.

 

[MCarruthers]

Fine bike! Really does look british.

 

[fingers]

A classic. Nice work.