This is my first 'retro' MTB, bought it last week and don't know much about it.
If anyone can tell me a year, i would appreciate it







It has a Reynolds Chrome-Moly frame, Shimano altus Crank, Front mech, Rear derailleur, Brakes and front hub. Gripshift shifters, 18 speed and I fitted a brand new Deore chain. Kalin Stem, Bars and seat post.
I've ordered a set of Kalin Bar ends and plan to get the original back wheel with the altus hub and rigida rim. The saddle is a Selle Royal MTB Sport.

After spending 4 and a half hours last night cleaning it, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to post some pics.

Also has stickers on the chainstays saying 'Tioga equipt'. But has no tioga on and I'm unable to find specs online. I want to get it back to original specs so any info would be great

For some reason I can not see your pictures, which I would like to do.

That's because the place where they are now doesn't allow proper hotlinking.

You could upload them to some known imagehosting site.
If that's a problem, I can see the pics with some html trickery, so I can download them and host them on my own domain.

Sorry about that, any better now? theyre on picasa.

Yip, that works. Nice bike BTW.

Thanks I don't suppose you know anything about it?

Afraid not.

Is that a 15-speed? If so, it looks like mid to late 80s to me.
But I'm really no expert, and especially not when it comes to these bikes.

It's actually 18, and I don't have a clue either I'm new to the older mtb's

Claud Butlers are produced by Falcon Cycles since 1987. If you're lucky, they'll be able to provide info based on the frame's serial number.
Mailing them would be my first idea.

Here's their site. There's a contact link at the very bottom of the page.

I already know of the history with Falcon, but I can't find a frame number. The BB has nothing. Where else could it be?

After a bit of googling, I can only come to the conclusion that it should be on the left side of the BB. Examine it closely, sometimes the paint is thickenough to hide it almost completely.
Claude Butler frames sometimes also had the frame number on the steering stem, so you might have to take the front fork out to examine it.

Unfortunately if the fork was changed, that means that there's no serial number on the bike. So let's hope that this is not the case.

From what I found, the serial numbers were always in a similar format of 2 groups. First group (3 or 4 digits) would be the year and month of production (for example 886 would be a bike built in june 1988 and 8810 would be for a bike built in october 1988).
The second group (always 4 digits) is the actual serial number of that month.
So to keep with that example, "8810 4567" would be the 4567th bike built in october 1988

If there really is nothing around the BB or the steering stem, the logical places would be just above the axle of the rear wheel (also on the left side), or at the very top of the seat tube (above the horizontal tube, once again on the left side).
However based on the info I found, I doubt that you'll find anything there. So if you don't see anything on BB and steering stem, your bike just may have no serial number on it anymore.

After a closer look on the BB I did find some thing but it disappears under the welds of the chainstay. I'm going to send falcon a message and hope they reply. I've sent them questions in the past and never had responses, so hopefully I'll have beter luck this time.

Message form on falcon isn't working . . may take a trip down there this week see if they can tell me anything.

Update:

New bar ends arrived! I've never used any before but I really like the look and feel.
Now I'm also considering Chrome bottle cages to go with the theme that's appearing.

Now rebuilt with full altus groupset with the 21 speed EZ-Fire shifters and rear hub

Current specs;
Frame: Claud Bulter Shinobi Reynolds Cro-Mo

Fork: Claud Butler Rigid 26"

Stem: Kalin 110mm Reach
Handlebar: Kalin ATB HT100 560mm
Barends: Kalin
Seatpost: Kalin Micro-Adjust 26.0mm
Saddle: Selle Royal MTB Sport

Brakes: Shimano Altus BR-CT90 M
Cantilever cable hangers: Shimano
Brake Levers: Shimano Altus EZ Fire SB-CT91

Shifters: Shimano Altus EZ Fire SB-CT91 7-Speed
Front Derailleur: Shimano Altus FD-CT91-E
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Altus RD-CT91
Cassette: Shimano Altus CS-HG30-7
Chain: SLX 9-Speed
Cranks: Shimano Altus FC-CT91
Bottom Bracket: BB-CT91
Pedals: Wellgo V12

Hub Skewers: Shimano QR
Rims: Vuelta Scout 26"
Front Hub: HB-CT90
Rear Hub: FH-CT90-7
Tyres: Vuelta Frontera

I will update with pics tomorrow hopefully.