Poorly '54 Claud Butler - Avant Coureur Special??

[sherlylock]

I've had a desire for a while to get hold of a "proper" Claud Butler, i.e. built before '57, pre-Holdworth ownership. Probably inspired after seeing some of Peachy's awesome restoration work on this fine forum.....

Anyways - I'd missed out on a couple this year on FB marketplace and eBay......until one popped up as part of a ad of scrap/tired bikes. The pic was really bad quality but I could just about make out the CB headbadge and decorative lugs of some sort under some thick paint. The saddle had to be worth what I agreed to pay for it so I arranged to collect.

Upon getting it home it was clear to see it was indeed a CB.....and investigation of the serial number confirmed a 1954 model. And the best part......it also has bi-laminated lugs.......deluxe long spearpoints. According to the '54 catalogue these were fitted to the Olympic Sprint track bike.....I have CB stamped non-track dropouts, but I have found reference to these lugs being fitted to the Avant Coureur from previous years......and I've found online evidence of an Avant Courier Special being fitted with those lugs. Customer request maybe. Anyways, happy to be proven wrong and happy for any more advice on what to look for to nail down a model.

Pics....

54 Catalogue entry for Avant Coureur Special courtesy of http://www.nkilgariff.com

It's got a nasty dent on the seat-tube and the steerer tube looks to have been repaired at some point......the serial number stamped into it matches the frame but it's been welded/dressed down near the fork crown......doesn't look very factory-finish and should probably be looked at!

Colourwise - it looks to have originally been a vivid green colour, with a yellow undercoat!? It's been overpainted a couple of times and with careful sanding of the thick blue (hammerite?) paint it's evident that the original paint was heavily scuffed up with sandpaper, presumably to provide a key for the next coat. I was hoping to find evidence of frame decals but alas none so far. There is evidence of chrome plating on fork crown and rear drop outs......be interesting to see what lies under the layers of paint when I get it stripped. I guess removing the headbadge should show the original colour in unfaded undamaged glory?

It's currently a singlespeed with a British Hubs Airlite large flange rear hub and a Campag front hub. Weinmann brake caliper/lever up front. Alloy rims - no idea on make as yet.
Williams 1000 crankset, Bayliss Wiley bottom bracket and Brampton Alatet headset. All been stripped flushed and re-greased and in very serviceable condition under the grime.

Not 100% sure on direction with this yet. Going to stick with single speed as I don't have one in the collection but it'll def. be a period build. A large flange Airlite hub for the front wheel is on the want list for sure!

As for colour schemes........need to have a think! Chrome dropouts def. need to feature.

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi, great find, I concur with all your scribblings, when I was looking into my Olympic Sprint ( currently in BOTM comp - worth checking out the paint scheme as it is original ) I also found a very small handful ( one or two if I remember correctly ) of non Track 'Olympic Sprint' lug types, they are rare, the CB catalogues are at best, guides, and as have pointed out, the customer has what he is willing to pay for. Good luck with the restoration. Terry

 

[dan73uk]

Re:

Looks a great frame under the thick paint.

 

[sherlylock]

Re: Re:

Hi, great find, I concur with all your scribblings, when I was looking into my Olympic Sprint ( currently in BOTM comp - worth checking out the paint scheme as it is original ) I also found a very small handful ( one or two if I remember correctly ) of non Track 'Olympic Sprint' lug types, they are rare, the CB catalogues are at best, guides, and as have pointed out, the customer has what he is willing to pay for. Good luck with the restoration. Terry

This is the one that I found on an Australian forum. Pretty much the same as mine but from a year earlier - and presumably re-worked anyway.....so who knows.

https://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/view ... hp?t=65287

None of the other bikes from '54 fit the bill and the Avant Coureur Special is the closest to it spec wise. I guess that's as good as it gets, short of finding the remnants of any frame decals (which is highly unlikely given the trashy overpaint).

Looks a great frame under the thick paint.

Looking forward to stripping it back to bare metal that's for sure. From what I can tell, as crap as the thick paint is I think its done a grand job of protecting the frame from corrosion!

Few more pics of mechanical bits. Thought I'd strip, clean and regrease headset, bottom bracket and hubs.....and at least get it riding to see what it's like.

Brampton Alatet headset - cosmetically rough - chrome shot - but bearing surfaces and bearings perfect!

Bayliss Wiley bottom bracket - pretty good shape externally and bearing surfaces 95% good. One slight area of fretting or spalling to the bottom bracket spindle bearing surface (on one side). All assembled and is now lovely and smooth so there's life left in it....

Rear Airlite hub stripped, old grease flushed, cleaned and reassembled with fresh grease. This was really notchy so I thought it'd be toast but everything inside the hub was spotless once the dried grease was cleaned off and is now buttery smooth.....

(Chain still needs a clean!)

Williams c1000 cranks cleaned up - in great nick under the grime.....just needs a final polish.

Paint stripped the headbadge to reveal the aluminium headbadge from under the thick paint. Looking forward to getting the detail brushes out from my Tamiya model-making days and infilling this.

........and finally, most interestingly, I took the headbadge off to see what the original colour was like.

Turns out it was a crackle finish!? Green over Yellow. The '54 catalogue suggests "crackle" finish as an optional extra..........doesn't feel very period though. Quite flamboyant for the time?

Tempted to recreate this though. Reckon it'd look awesome..........

 

[Jamiedyer]

It's certainly proving to be a very nice frame under all that paint etc.
The green over yellow crackle looks great, very modern looking as haven't seen that before.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Jamie

 

[Peachy!]

Oh...cracking :facepalm:

I’d be seriously tempted with getting that crackle finish replicated!
As for the alloy rims, fingers crossed they are Clement Albione 27” x 1 1/4” look them up on Vellobase, I put a photo on there of a set I found.... extremely rare...
And whilst you’re on there have a look at the CB head badges. I think I put a photo on of an aluminium one with a few traces of colour in the right places.

(Sorry, I can’t seem to access it on my phone, otherwise I’d have posted a link.)

 

[Peachy!]

Managed to get access to the head badges gallery... I was right, the aluminium version had a different colour order...

 

[sherlylock]

It's certainly proving to be a very nice frame under all that paint etc.
The green over yellow crackle looks great, very modern looking as haven't seen that before.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Jamie

It's surprising me with everything I look at on this bike! The crackle finish is great - I think if I hadn't read that it was an option in '54 I would've thought it was a respray. Had a quick search online and can't find any other examples out there......yet. Hopefully going to start paint stripping it this weekend if I find time.

Oh...cracking :facepalm:

I’d be seriously tempted with getting that crackle finish replicated!
As for the alloy rims, fingers crossed they are Clement Albione 27” x 1 1/4” look them up on Vellobase, I put a photo on there of a set I found.... extremely rare...
And whilst you’re on there have a look at the CB head badges. I think I put a photo on of an aluminium one with a few traces of colour in the right places.

(Sorry, I can’t seem to access it on my phone, otherwise I’d have posted a link.)

Be rude not to try and replicate that finish right? Can't quite visualise what that's going to look like with chrome dropouts and decals though!
Had a closer look at the rims and no sign of a maker name stamped into them or remnants of any stickers so bit of a mystery. Will have a poke around on Velobase later to see if anything matches up visually to the rim section.

Thanks for the link to the headbadge - it certainly looks like that one - some really fine casting detail! I spotted a repainted one on the fb group page:

Bought a front brake for it a couple of days ago to replace the 70's Weinmann affair.

And found some inspiration for the paint job!

 

[Jamiedyer]

Re:

That will be some finish!
Maybe it wasn’t as popular back then as they were a bit too conservative with regards to making such a statement with your bike.
I can more picture a punk in the 70s pulling a wheelies up the high street than showing up to a youth hostel weekend in the highlands in the 50s
If you find a painter to do it tell I have my old beemer m/c that would look cool in this
Jamie

 

[sherlylock]

Re: Re:

That will be some finish!
Maybe it wasn’t as popular back then as they were a bit too conservative with regards to making such a statement with your bike.
I can more picture a punk in the 70s pulling a wheelies up the high street than showing up to a youth hostel weekend in the highlands in the 50s
If you find a painter to do it tell I have my old beemer m/c that would look cool in this
Jamie

Yeah, green over neon yellow doesn't really conjure up a nostalgic picture of 1950s cycling does it? I'm assuming its original as its under the headbadge, and there is evidence of it overspayed in the bottom bracket shell and headtube. I suppose the whole bike could've been stripped and resprayed properly at some point in the last 66 years. If I hadn't spotted that crackle paint was an option in the 1954 catalogue I'd have never thought it was standard.

Seems that crackle effect is used a lot nowadays in faux-vintage furniture restoration......and there seem to be a few ways to achieve it - mainly using pva glue as a substrate to paint over which causes the top coat to shrink and crack. A good technique for furniture I'm sure......

Wondering whether this stuff is worth having a play with.....clear coated with something durable like a 2k lacquer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sth2GrnEvE