Help dating my Claud Butler (or is it something else?)

[thisisnotaspoon]

I bought this about 5 years ago and have been using it as a commuter but the lack of serious maintenance was starting to show so I've stripped it to get it resprayed. But I've no idea if it's even a Claud Butler, it's been re-sprayed at least once before.

My hunch would be that it's from the 80's after CB, Falcon, British Eagle, Holdsworth etc merged as I've seen very similar frames badged as British Eagle Touristique, CB Dalesman, Dawes Galaxy.

Spec as I bought it;

Shimano 600 rear mech
Suntour front mech
Suntour shifters
Shimano LX300 Biopace chainset
ATAX bar and stem
Middlemores saddle
Maillard pedals
Weinman brakes

I can't find any markings on the canti's themselves, ditto the stickers have fallen off the rims.

The only marking I could find on the fork was Reynolds and some indistinct numbering which I assume is the part number of the steerer not the bike's serial number.

At some point it's been re-sprayed previously so I presume at that point some/all the parts were replaced, hence the mish mash of shimano, suntour, weinman, pelisier and maillard bits!

Plan is to build it up with a mix of practical, retro, original and new bits to make it as usable as possible, so new wheels with modern shimano hubs, stronglight chainset, frogleg canti's, brooks saddle, etc. Unless someone comes up with a much older date in which case I might go digging for some more correct bits.

Some stuff from when I bought it
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... e-for-sale

DSC00533 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00531 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00532 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00534 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00530 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00529 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00523 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

DSC00528 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

20150816_221543 by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

 

[Nob]

What about stamping on the bottom bracket rear drop out or on the forks steerer tube?

 

[thisisnotaspoon]

Re:

Knew I'd miss something important!

AL52DF
32

725868

 

[lewisfoto]

Re:

Based on the kit alone I'd say mid eighties, which is what you guessed.

 

[thisisnotaspoon]

Garrrrr, getting confused.

Plenty of bikes it looks like, but none are quite right!

The Lugs have heart shaped cut outs in them, which is defiantly in common with other Holdsworth group bikes of the 80's.

The only cantilevered bike in the 80's CB range was the Super Dalesman, and the stickers match that, except for the lack of any model sticker on the top tube.

Shifters look like suntour cyclones which CB did use in the 1980's

And on top of that, the fork has a sloping crown (not sure wht the propper name is, the type where the crown is effectively the male part of the lug and the fork blade fits onto it, most dalesman seem to have had lugged crowns.

Anyone got a the foggiest idea where to go from there?

[edit]
more digging and this looks to have the correct lugs and seatstay bridge (a plain bit of tube with a hole drilled in it), I've asked if he cans end a pic of the canti brake to see if the pannier mounts and cable stop are the same.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... uring-bike

But then it seems to have the forks off this (and the right cable stop), but can't make out the lugs or the top tube cable guides (mine are single hoops, CB seemed to use double hoops).
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=279437

I'm now thinking either I've got a parts bin special from the end of a production run. Or someones bought and Eagle and dressed it up as a CB, although the touristique seems to have had an identical specification to the super dalesman, so why buy one if you wanted the other?