1982 Claud Butler 531 Majestic - Project #10

[Gunk]

Friction shifters stripped, cleaned and rebuilt.

Headset also deep cleaned, new bearings fitted and forks back on.

 

[Gunk]

I started cleaning the rest of the groupset this afternoon.

The chainset came up well, the rear shows you the state of everything else. I nearly threw the rear mech away but with some patience that and the front mech have come up well. Next job is to strip and rebuild the centre pull brakes.

 

[Gunk]

It’s starting to look like a bike, I’m back at work tomorrow so unfortunately progress will slow down for a couple of days.

 

[Gunk]

Weinmann 750's stripped, cleaned and rebuilt.

 

[Gunk]

I turned my attention to the Mavic wheelset.I stripped and serviced the hubs, cleaned everything and gave the hubs a polish with Autosol ( you can never have enough bling!) fitted some new tyres and tubes, they're now ready to fit. I'll true them once on the bike.

 

[Gunk]

I also fitted the gear cables, replacing inner and outers.

Next job is to refurbish the brake levers and clean up the handlebars. I'm now on the home straight, it should be done over the weekend. It's a real shame it's too big for me as it is a lovely bike.

 

[Gunk]

As I have some time, my goal is to get it finished today. This morning, I cleaned and polished the bars and stem (lovely quality British made GB stuff) I also stripped and deep cleaned the levers and fitted replacement hoods, cabled everything up and moved the bike to the main workshop stand for final assembly.

I also managed to clout my shin on the bloody Turbo trainer!

 

[MichaelW2]

The Claude Butler brand has certainly come a long way since that old thing was made.

 

[Gunk]

The Claude Butler brand has certainly come a long way since that old thing was made.

Very true, these Holdsworth era bikes were really desirable back in the day, they are a joy to restore, everything is serviceable, it's very rare I ever have to throw anything away.

 

[Gunk]

All finished!

 

[Colin Grigson]

All finished!

View attachment 566675

View attachment 566676

View attachment 566677

View attachment 566678

View attachment 566679

View attachment 566680

View attachment 566681

That looks amazing - nice work

 

[Gunk]

That looks amazing - nice work

Thanks, it’s given me something to do over the Christmas break especially as the weather has been too cold to ride either motorcycles or bikes and I’m not very good at just sitting around!

This one was going to be thrown in to a skip, so there is a small sense of achievement that I’ve managed to preserve it and give it a new lease of life. Hopefully the new owner will be really pleased with it, if had been smaller I would have kept it a little while and enjoyed it. Sadly all the really nice builds I’ve done have been huge frames.

 

[midlife]

Is that saddle at the right height for you? BITD it was expected that the seat post stuck out about a handful. If the saddle is OK then its about your size.

 

[Gunk]

No it’s far too high, it’s a 60cm frame and I tend to ride between 51 and 53cms.

 

[Gunk]

I always manage to make one minor mistake. This time I had mis-routed the rear brake cable, so off with the lever and now correctly routed.