Karma Claud Butler Majestic

I acquired this karma frame just before Christmas, a nice solid 531 tourer, an 80s Claud Butler Majestic.
In tatty but structurally good condition.
I wanted to upgrade my town/pub bike so I thought I’d give this a respray and build it up.

I wanted to do more of a restoration with matching decals but I figured if it was getting painted then I’d add a few useful bits to improve the functionality. So out came the blowtorch and I added;
Bottle bosses on down and seat tubes.
Shifter bosses on the downtube.
Removed cable guide from top of chainstay and added one underneath.
Drilled and tapped BB she’ll for a cable guide.
Pump pegs on seatstay and purchased a retro pump to paint same colour as the frame.

Here it is, the before photos and the frame ready to prime, jumbled order thanks to Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/gp/157053716@N06/ta4h6L
 
Ok. :shock: ..like the braze-on mods..... what’s your plan for the paint?
 
Got the clear coat and decals on now, looking pretty smart.
Forks are at the LBS getting the crown reamed and faced to ISO size, far more choices for headsets.
It’s not the catalogue colour but it’s pretty custom now anyway and I’m the spirit of the original.
Still working on the pump as I had to start again due to a paint run, nowhere to hide on tubes!
Here it is

https://www.flickr.com/gp/157053716@N06/1JJ513
 
Nice work.... not thought of changing the forks for a modern headset... interested to see how that pans out.
 
Nice work, that's finished up very nicely, I know that colour well and used it on my current pub bike a Holdsworth Elan, I did that one about 5 years ago and it's survived superbly well in that it shows hardly a mark and I particularly like the braze on additions on yours, might have to get some gas for my blow torch now.

tarting up my original pub bike (which was far too many years and bikes ago now) was what got me started on my bike restoration thing in the first place, I couldn't just tidy it up I had to at least attempt to do it properly and I enjoyed it so much I just carried on doing them.
 
Re:

Praise indeed from the big boys!
I like the braze-ons too, bit fiddly to hold in place but they only cost about 50p per item and make a big difference to the frame. And if it’s back to metal then why not?
I get them from Ceeway, well priced and only a £10 minimum order.

I’ve tried a U-Pol 2 part clear on this so it should be extra tough if I mixed it right.
 
It looks a very nice job so any praise is justified no matter where it comes from.

Did you oven or heat dry the clear coat? I always understood it was the drying process that contributes to the hardness of the final finish in a short time, air drying in a decent temperature will eventually give the same result but it just takes a very very long time. I've got the means here to use 2 pac but haven't yet got the means to heat dry the paint properly and to be honest I find painting a frame a lot easier with a can than with a gun on a hose and that's especially true of the coloured lacquers I use.
 
Re:

From what the google tells me, looking at car spraying forums: The 2 part is a chemical curing process rather than just a drying one with 1 part, this means it will cure off hard whatever but professional sprayers use an oven to speed it up as time=money.

I’m fortunate where I am to have access to a shipping container with a fan and dehumidifier in it which gets mighty warm when the sun is out (sun? What’s that?) but I think it’ll be fine.

I’ll post if anything goes drastically wrong!
 
Back
Top