Claude Butler Tourer

[jes*b]

Hi, I have finally become the proud custodian of my dads tourer. I would like to strip it down and start a rebuild of quality parts. I like the idea of chasing down a suitable group set ( ie one brand as much as poss) I kinda like shimano . Could users recommend a make and range to aim at that would be available ( within reason ) , relatively affordable and reasonably 'top of the range ' for the time period of the bike . I'm guessing 70's ish . Suitable wheels / saddle etc as well . I would like to start pulling it all together. Would like to set it up as a pure period tourer. Thanks for any help . Jes

 

[legrandefromage]

The Reynolds decals point to the early to mid 1980's. The condition looks good with just a clean up required. Many bikes of the period would have had a mix & match approach to drivetrain. If it was mine, I'd look at bar-end shifters and perhaps use the first generation Shimano MT-60 groupset from 1987 with polished dual pivot brakes and non aero levers with tan hoods. This gives you indexing, 7speeds and nice period looking mechs that shift better than some of the previous non slant parallelogram mechs.

But thats just me.

And its CLAUD!

 

[jes*b]

Great info . Yes I guess it's from early 80's then . He used it daily but it was well looked after

 

[legrandefromage]

Useful sites for dating mechs and choosing bits

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Home.html

http://velobase.com/Default.aspx

 

[jes*b]

I thought the e was hidden under the lock ! Schoolboy Error