Saturday, January 10, 2015

Cool shop bike: Claud Butler that belonged to Fred De long

     I do not have a lot of info about this bike to share other than it belonged to Fred De Long and he may have used it to win a state championship. I have tried to track down the model and year of production, but it has been proving difficult. The serial number stamped on the BB shell is 752080. Which, as far as I can find puts it into the era of 1957 or 1967. It has features of earlier models like the unique fork rake and the integrated head set cups. It also has a nice twin plate fork crown with his name and location engraved into it! That feature is my personal favorite. it has the "axe head" lugs that were used on the all-rounder models and nice Chater Lea head clip style head set, also an older feature. The BB shell has two grease fittings. Older bikes also used a seat collar, but this bike has an integrated bolt. The seat stays are also not fully or semi wrapping around the seat lug, which was a common British style, also making me think the bike is older. If any Claud Butler fans can enlighten me with more details, I would love to hear it!

Update: I have been informed by Hilary Stone that this bike is the Anglo-Continental  model. He also dates it to either 1937 or 1947, but leans on the older date because of the head clip style headset and the Russ  fork. Many thanks to all who have provided info!
Update 2: here is a link provided to me by Peter Brueggeman about Russ forks. Thanks! Russ forks



 Displaying Continental Club 1939.jpg























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