1984 Claud Butler Super Dalesman Tourer: a decade-long project

Hi all, I'm not 100% sure that just-completed projects qualify as a "current project", but here goes. In 2011ish, as a 19yo student, I bought a 1984 Claud Butler Super Dalesman from @hilarystone for a hair under 200 quid. A lovely lugged Reynolds 531ST touring frame, this bike was the first incarnation of the Super Dalesman built by Holdsworth in South London- I have yet to see others of this vintage, any that I've found online are later versions. Based on the 1985 catalogue, it appeared to have all its original components (see photos). I wish I had weighed the thing for comparison, dear god. Despite quite a bit of rust, the frame was actually in really good nick considering its age and had probably been sat in someone's garage for 20 years.

As soon as I got Claud, I replaced cables, chain, bottom bracket, sanded all the rust I could off the crankset and rear mech, and put some Shimano RS100 wheels on. He later saw a horrendous black seatpost (see photo below), some new brake levers and pads and some clipless pedals. Many thousands of miles and even a jaunt from Bristol to Paris with the original canti brakes and drivetrain were mostly enjoyed, but plagued with terrible shifting and braking performance and less-than-ideal comfort.

As a now-28yo with marginally more pennies to rub together, my other half @mutsj and I spent this last stretch of lockdown carefully choosing and buying parts to completely overhaul Claud before a summer of touring (hopefully). All that remains of the original components is the headset and front brake hanger. I decided to convert to an indexed 1x11 with a bar-end shifter for simplicity, weight savings, and the overall aesthetic appeal of having a "cleaner" frame. We started dismantling him over the Easter weekend, but little did we know what we were in for... The cranks were fused completely to the BB spindle and required hacksawing off after destroying one crank remover. We thought it might be plain sailing from there, but we didn't realise that the derailleur mount on old Campagnolo dropouts are not even remotely optimised for modern rear derailleurs. We had what we will call "negative clearance" between mech and cassette.... The wheel axle would have to sit as far forward as possible, and the assistance of a Wolf Tooth Goatlink11 would be required. However, the drive-side dropout screw was rusted completely into the frame and fixed way too far back for our needs. With some commendable ballsy-ness from our pal @popdown and his drill, and a quick trip to Screwfix for an M3 tap, we salvaged the dropout and everything came together in the end.

Without further ado, the before photos... photo from the original catalogue, 2 shots from the ad I purchased from, and the final photo is in 2016 or so after a few years of use (and the disgusting black seatpost - what was I thinking?)

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And here he is now, a few hundred quid and a lot of swearing later... A fully-fledged lightweight tourer ready for some unexpected bridleway action (Tubus Fly black rear rack has not been put back on yet)

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And another one on the move...

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Bars: Nitto Noodle 42cm
Stem: Nitto Technomic Deluxe 110mm
Shifter: Microshift Shimano 11-speed MTB bar-end
Downtube cable stop: Vintage Campagnolo
Cables: Jagwire Sport Universal, Stainless Steel
Brake levers: Sram S500
Headset: Tange (original)
Wheelset: Shimano RS100
Tyres: Panaracer Gravelking SK 32mm
Cranks: Shimano Dura-Ace 7402
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-UN300, 110mm
Pedals: ISSI Flash III
Cassette: 11-46t Sunrace CSMS8
Chainring: Stone 42t narrow-wide (BCD 130mm)
Rear mech: Shimano Deore XT M8000 (long-cage) + Wolf Tooth Goatlink11
Chain: YBN SLA-11 Gold (waxed with Molten SpeedWax )
Brakes: Tektro Cantis
Rear brake hanger: Nitto AS-5
Brake yokes: ACOR
Seatpost: Nitto S83
Saddle: Brooks Cambium C17 Carved
Bottle cage: NOS Minoura blue anodized

looks great! well done!
(i would not have gone the 1x route with that black cassette is...big...i guess the range is massive also anyway its your bike and you are happy!)

Thank you! Yes, I knew the black cassette would be divisive. The problem is that the largest two cogs on silver wide-range cassettes typically are different in colour to the rest of the cassette (see photo), which I think looks awful. Also, I thought that a huge black rear-mech and otherwise all-silver components might look a bit weird. It is virtually impossible to find silver long-cage MTB rear derailleurs - if they were available I would probably have gone for that. In the end, I personally love how the all-black contrasts with the gold chain, and in going for a bold mix of modern and classic and I enjoy the balance that was achieved!

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I think you'd come a long way towards a more put together look with a black chainring a silver dearailleur.
But overall I like what you have done with the bike!

Thank you sir, if silver 11-speed MTB derailleurs were available, then that's what I'd likely have gone for! Alas, they are virtually all black or gunmetal. I was effectively stuck with going for an all-Campag groupset if I wanted to go for the full-retro silver look, which didn't appeal as I wanted indexed bar-end shifters and Sram brake levers (they're extremely comfortable). I also personally don't like the look of silver cranks with black rings, but each to their own :) I suppose I was less concerned about put together in the classic sense, and more interested in a drivetrain that was simple and worked great - I achieved that, and I like that it's unique.

This looks excellent, v well built and a lovely write up!

Big Fan of the gearing colour choice personally, has retro mod appeal

I see - I thought I remembered seeing a black and silver XT rear derailleur, but it appears I was wrong.
I'm partial to the Sram brake levers and bar end shifting myself, though I can't be bothered with indexing. I just run friction 2x9 speed.

@MisterMikkel, unfortunately it came down to a choice between a silver drivetrain, or one that I actually wanted to use! I have to say, after friction downtube shifters prior, I'm very much enjoying a life with indexing. The bike is also significantly lighter than it was with 3x9.

Thank you @Maj - that's exactly what I was going for!

:) actually the more i look at it, the less it bothers me!! :) probably is a great ride!!! i will probably look into those chainrings! nice!

I fully support choosing the drivetrain that makes you enjoy the bike the most!
I was not trying to criticize your build choices, I am sorry if it came across that way.

@jBola a fantastic ride. Can recommend the stone chainrings - I might get a 38t for hillier touring as well. I'm glad you like him :)

@MisterMikkel not at all! I'm just trying to explain the thought process behind it, converting old frames to modern components is a minefield and I enjoy nerding out about it... Thanks for your comments!

What BCD is the chainring/DA crank? I just found a narrow wide 135mm BCD one (i.e. for old Campag Chorus) on line, came all the way from Taiwan. Annoylingly, a black CR.

(and a horrendous black seatpost - what was I thinking?)

haha this made me chuckle. The hegemony of black parts sucks, and you got tricked into thinking it was OK!

Totally hear what you're saying about lack of modern silver drivetrains. I just built a wide spread 1x10sp with a friction, parts are black and silver mostly, happily found an all-silver Deore 46-11, which I AM LOVING.

130mm.... Aliexpress has tonnes of different BCDs/colours/etc. Shipping takes a few weeks is all! And lol - it was really terrible, but it made it all the more satisfying to swap it out haha!

Your build sounds great, it can be a real treasure hunt trying to find the right bits for these conversions!

My 16yr old son and beloved nearly-wife just pissed them selves laughing when I rode up to them on it earlier today. It's a weird bike.

Anyway back to the dalesman! They're like the CTC classic bike, or maybe for roughstuff. I love those brakes.

@Skülly All hail the franken-bike! I have much more love and respect for these sort of conversions now that I know how much thought/time/effort/blood/tears goes into getting them running nicely.

And yes, definitely a classic tourer which is a dream on rolling hills. For the most part, I enjoy keeping the cantis alive - they are a bit of a ballache to set up correctly, especially with 700c wheels which the bike was not designed for. Tried to swap them out for calipers a few years back to remedy this, but couldn't immediately find any with a long enough brake nut for the forks and quickly gave up... @mutsj sorted out these new Tektro cantis which do better with the 700cs, and has done a great job of setting them up - I carry a spanner around in my toolkit as I live in fear of mishaps...

This is a lovely bike, great selection of parts.

Agree that the large black cassette looks a little incongruous; Sunrace/Deore 11-42 units can be had in uniform silver if you feel to swap at some point.

Top shout on the 130BCD Aliexpress NW chainring in all-silver, just the ticket for a ‘RGR’ conversion I’ve got bubbling.

Lovely bike, so much of this build is right up my street! Really like the brakes too. Having set up some V brakes on my partner's bike yesterday I think I'm actually on team canti despite them being a pain to set up without a third arm.

think I might find a way to strip my 135mm chainring. Except I can't really be arsed.

Great build! Some stainless GB fenders would make a nice addition to the silver bits imo. Do you have a link for that chainring by any chance?

Thank you kindly @ectoplasmosis! That extra 4 teeth gets me several more gear inches at the low end, which I expect I will be thankful for when fully-loaded in the summer... Didn't much fancy the red spider on the Sunrace guys when I was hunting for bits but will keep the Deore in mind if I ever decide to swap it out :)

@jtfh thank you - yes, I think even with the third arm tool (or even 4 actual arms) it's a bit of a nightmare to get everything really tight in clearance and feeling good. As soon as the back wheel has to come out it's a pain as it's hard to get the rim back into the same exact spot under the tension of the chain - the joys of non-thru axles.

@Sig_Arlecchino Thank you! I'm going for a lightweight touring setup to be honest - I have a Tubus Fly black rack that hasn't been put on yet and an ass-saver for wet weather, but no plans for fenders. Link to chainring: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32993641100.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.dfe24c4dEGg9Wv

People will disagree, but I'd say the next step is a sand blast and powdercoat. A flat colour would bring the frame up to date. I think by keeping the original paint job then the top catalogue picture looks way better because it is period correct with the gummies and traditional Brooks. Not to discount the work you have put in by the way.