Warren Bare’s 1948 Claud Butler Avant Coureur

1948 Claud Butler

This bike was originally owned by a cyclist from Reading, Pennsylvania named Warren Bare.

An excellent regional level racer, Warren won a national amatuer title, and won the Pennsylvania state championship multiple times.

The frame builder, Claud Butler, first opened his bike shop in London in 1928. 

Claud was an innovator, and he pioneered many of the designs that we still use today. Butler modernized frame design by shortening wheelbases and shifting the bike more upright from standard 69 degree seat tube and fork angles.  He developed a short wheel-base tandem in 1935 (check out our version elsewhere in this museum section) and he engineered a rideable three-speed adult tricycle.

This model, the Avant Coureur, first appeared as a stock model in 1948 and featured “bi-laminate” lugged construction. What is a bi-laminate lug?  Glad you asked.

Bi-laminate head lugs

Nice wrap around seat stays

Harden hubs used sealed cartridge bearings

Bowden side-pull brake calipers

I think Claud Butler actually preferred to bronze weld tubing together when he made frames.  Tubing angles could be custom, the joints were smooth and plenty strong.  Problem is, everyone thought that the more ornate tube-brazed-into-fancy-lug construction was better simply because it was fancier or more expensive.  So for this Avant Coureur model, the customer would get a frame that was welded together, and then had fancy flat steel “lugs” cut and wrapped around each joint.  Extra strong, extra fancy, more money.

Warren’s bike has some other great features.  There are the nice lightweight racing wheels built with Harden hubs (an early design that used sealed cartridge bearings).  The hubs are fastened with neat Cyclo wingnuts.

Simplex Tour de France type derailleur

1949 Claud Butler catalogue

Warren painted his BSA crantarms

Warren in action

There is the Simplex Tour de France derailleur on the back, managing a spread of 4 whole gears (by the way, we actually have the chain routed incorrectly through the derailleur in our photos. We know.  No angry bike-nerd emails please).  The Bowden brakes mounted to this bike are really light, simple looking, and yet they stop on a shilling..