Author: MonkeyShred
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Sometime last year I bought two rusty bikes off eBay for £30; a mid 70's Raleigh Scorpio and this 1956 Claud Butler. The Scorpio was in the better condition, of the two, so I quickly cleaned that up and sold it on but the Claud has sat at the back of my garage ever since. The Claud has a lot of rust on it and to some, is only good for scrap but I thought the old details were too nice to let go. I could have chosen to send the frame off to a bike specialist like Mercian for a complete restoration but with the price tag attached to that, it's not something I could justify. That was when I decided to try a "rustoration" so to speak. Clean it and lock it in time. Parts replaced: Front and rear rims - Rear rim was completed rusted and the front was a 80's ish replacement. Replacement rims are Dunlop LA rims. Fancy. Front hub - Whoever had replaced the front wheel had used the wrong sized front hub. I built the front wheel with one of my period spares adding some GB "quick release" nuts. Saddle - The original padded saddle was torn and rivets were broken so I replaced it with a Brooks B17 Standard that I had lying around. Stem - As a temporary measure I have replaced the original stem with a GB spearpoint. At some point I want to replate the original stem and use it again. I've cleaned every steel part and every chrome part in Oxalic Acid to remove the rust. The frame and forks have been sprayed with a top coat to try and "lock in" the age. Every alloy part has been cleaned and polished extensively. All cables and bearings replaced. The most difficult part? Getting the rear hub working. It was seized solid! It took a lot of soaking and a complete strip down and clean to work again, something I've never tried before. I found out the main problem was the locating collar for the shifting pin was seized to the shaft but I'm happy to say now, after a lot of cleaning, everything works! It's quite clearly still got signs of rust but the bike was too good to scrap and I'm happy with the result. Hope you enjoyed the video.