Kilroy1988 

Hello and a happy winter solstice to all!

Today a special package arrived from merry ol' England with a frame set I purchased not long ago - I had not expected it to be here before the new year so that was a pleasant surprise.

This is a 1952 Claud Butler Olympic Sprint with special order road/track features including mudguard eyelets and extra clearance plus rear brake drilling. I've provided snippets from the 1952 catalogue showcasing the bilaminate lugs as well as the model. The paint was refinished a number of years ago and will hold up for now, but is not perfect and not as I would have it, so I do plan to renovate it in the foreseeable future. For now I have some extra decals coming in to replace a couple that are missing, and will build it up mostly with parts on hand but to roughly match the catalogue specification.

However, I don't plan to put it together for a couple of months perhaps, so I thought I'd share the frame and let people contemplate it as things stand... Cheers and happy holidays!

-Gregory

repechage

I think it needs to be in a two tone blue.
attractive lug work.
my only question is the light bracket on the fork is a typically on the other side.

known reason for that switch of side on this one? Of course, I will do gnome the claim it was destined for the USA or Continental market.

Kilroy1988 

Good morning! Blue is a likely choice for the next iteration.

I've seen lamp brackets on the left-hand side of several bikes that remained in England throughout their lives, as well as some bikes that had them on both sides - clearly it was rider's preference and probably depended upon the conditions they usually rode in. With the bracket on the left side your light would be on the outside of the road and it would be easier to see the edge or beyond that, while on the right side it was obviously more centered upon the roadway and directly in front of oncoming traffic.

-Gregory

nlerner

Beautiful frame! My ‘49 Raleigh Clubman has the light bracket on the left side fork blade as it was made for the US market.

Biketiger

What a cool bike! The lugs are fantastic and I love the "C.B. rugged rear ends" - they look like alligators.
What do they mean by bi-laminate? Surely its referring to something besides lugged construction?

oneclick 

Bi-laminate "lugs" are not, they are sleeves brazed to tube-ends, which are then mitred and fillet brazed.

Any angles you wished, and stronger than fillets without sleeves.

Kilroy1988 

Biketiger Here's an excellent little article about Claud Butler's bilaminate construction technique on the Classic Lightweights website. oneclick described the process well. Cheers!

https://www.classiclightweights.co.u...inated-frames/

-Gregory