Good morning listers. (This time with a proper sign-off.)
I'm looking for some help in restoring a 1951 Claud Butler New Allrounder frame I acquired over a year ago. The area in question is the cable guide for the rear derailleur on the bottom bracket. Here is what the guide in the 1951 Claud Butler catalogue looks like:
http://usera.ImageCave.com/
This is what I have on my frame:
http://usera.ImageCave.com/
Clearly, the original roller has been lost and the mounting boss for it corroded or partly removed. In its place someone has brazed on a different roller from the same period. The new roller appears to be corroded and seized and doesn't turn. When I first got this frame, I didn't know what the remains of that bit that's brazed on at the base of the down tube was, until Peter Brown sent me a page scanned from the 1951 catalogue. Now I'm wondering why Claud only used this type of roller in '51. Or did he also use it in other years? I had an original 1953 New Allrounder in my youth and for the life of me I can't remember what kind of cable guide it had, but I have a feeling it was just stops on the down tube and chainstay with a short piece of cable casing in between.
So here's my dilemma: Resurrect the original roller, refurbish the replacement, get rid of them both and add a cable stop, or a fourth alternative, use a clamp-on Sturmey Archer roller. Any ideas would be appreciated, especially more details on the construction of the original CB roller. I'm not really trying to recreate a historically correct 1951 bike, just something close because I can't redo the corroded chrome ends and fork crown, maybe resembling my old 1953.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada