Carlton Cobra .Rat bike or refurb?

[bagpuss]

Soak in a bath of oxalic acid?

I reckon the missus would have something to say about that

Have also been the tin foil route .

Having a ponder on my next plan of attack .

 

[midlife]

Maybe soak a tube at a time in some plastic guttering

 

[Geofnay]

Well do I keep the frame as is ? or powder coat it .

Run it as a rat bike or in my youth a beater .

Powder coat it and run it as an example of my 1st sports bike . This was a Sun Snipe plus,this involves a head badge change , Which I have .

I have all the parts required .

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I still have one from my youth in (what would have been) the same colour scheme. I always liked the 'grad tint' - blue, silver, smoky grey. Not sure if my frame is as bad - mine is buried in the garage and a 5 speed. Would be good to get it back on the road again ...

 

[Fredo76]

Sandblast and powder-coat, or don't bother, seriously.

 

[bagpuss]

Hmm .As the Chrome for the most part is shot .I am going to mask the drop outs off,as it is ok on all four . Also around the lugs is reasonable .Then have it powder coated Silver .

 

[bagpuss]

Thanks for all the input folks .

 

[Spokesmann]

Restoring that will cost a bomb, re-chroming a full frame these days youa re looking north of £500. There is a certain charm to a patinated machine.

 

[bagpuss]

Mike you are right . No intention of rechroming the frame . Jury is still out on the next move ..

 

[Illaveago]

I think it would look a lot better if you tried working on the rust a bit more . It is surprising at times to discover that some of those large rust spots can almost disappear after treating them with acid . Oxalic acid , lemon juice ,rust removing gell, anything which takes your fancy .

 

[bagpuss]

Garage time today ....moved to yard ....

Ps anybody ever tried this rattle can ? If so what was the resulting finish ?

 

[bagpuss]

No lemon drizzel cake for me this weekend . Frame is coming up a treat .Pictures to follow later . It has now got the look I wanted .

Thanks all !!!

 

[AndyRM]

No lemon drizzel cake for me this weekend . Frame is coming up a treat .Pictures to follow later . It has now got the look I wanted .

Thanks all !!!

Looking forward to seeing them!

 

[bagpuss]

So.....Elbow grease applied....

A lot of flaking on chrome . Forks worst part . Head set to clean up next .

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Given the state of the frame rat bike is the only realistic way to go. i'd get a roll of emery cloth strip and just remove all the rust pitting plus any degraded chrome, followed by a rattle can paint job at the minimum possible cost.
Carlton Cobras aren't rare, and the frame is a pretty basic plain gauge steel spec. The quality of the bike and the finished value doesn't justify going mad on a restoration. If you want a shiny bling one, go and find a frame with good chrome as a basis for the project. That one will only ever be a rat.

 

[bagpuss]

I have no intension on spending a wad of cash on it . Plenty of other Carlton rides .

Bling time ....

Carlton International by rebalrid, on Flickr



Carlton International by rebalrid, on Flickr