Carlton Corsa?

[Cycleops]

@Spokesmann has an identical one and I'm sure he'll offer some useful tips.
If the saddle is unrecoverable you can buy a replacement Brooks to keep the look.
Here's what it looked like originally;

 

[Glenn2605]

So the fridge magnet has confirmed they’re steel rims, the weight should been an indicator! Time to get the wire wool, oil and elbow grease out.

Spoken to a couple of blasters/powder coated and they all use RAL colours so need to find a match with the original colour

 

[carpenter]

Hi good luck with colour match. These may help:

https://www.merciancycles.co.uk/frames/colours/

http://www.ctc-powder-coating.co.uk/colour-swatches/

Maldon powder coating are good and helpful (waiting for my Dancelli frame to be finished in illusion cherry)

May I suggest scrunched up wet aluminium foil for cleaning you rims.

 

[davidphilips]

Again just my view, i would consider replacing the rims/wheels with alloy rims this would help loose weight from the bike and improve braking in the wet second hand wheels could be bought from an auction site for little money.

 

[Illaveago]

I agree with the above. They can totally transform the feel of a bike for the better.

 

[EltonFrog]

That looks like a beautiful bike. If you go the respray route I can recommend Mercian cycles, they’ll do a FAB job matching the colour and logos. It’ll cost about £180.

 

[Glenn2605]

Spent some time cleaning up the wheels last night, they're coming up OK but not brilliant as they are quite crusty. Does anyone have suggestion on sizing that would be a direct fit, the current wheel set is 27 x 1.25? Also the fitment i.e how they go into the dropouts could be an issue due to not using skewers?

 

[EltonFrog]

Spent some time cleaning up the wheels last night, they're coming up OK but not brilliant as they are quite crusty. Does anyone have suggestion on sizing that would be a direct fit, the current wheel set is 27 x 1.25? Also the fitment i.e how they go into the dropouts could be an issue due to not using skewers?

Good question! I’d like to know that too.

 

[Glenn2605]

That looks like a beautiful bike. If you go the respray route I can recommend Mercian cycles, they’ll do a FAB job matching the colour and logos. It’ll cost about £180.

Have you had yours done there, any before/after pictures?

 

[Illaveago]

Spent some time cleaning up the wheels last night, they're coming up OK but not brilliant as they are quite crusty. Does anyone have suggestion on sizing that would be a direct fit, the current wheel set is 27 x 1.25? Also the fitment i.e how they go into the dropouts could be an issue due to not using skewers?

There shouldn't be a problem with the wheel size as you can still get that size. One problem I did find though are axle sizes, some have different diameters to the dropouts.
I bought a pair of refurbished ally 27 x1.25 with Maillard hubs on that well known site for £40, they had new spokes and run pretty well.

 

[carpenter]

Birmalux rimmed alloy wheels come up on auction every now and then - if you want to keep "retro" (and sort of British ). Also bear in mind that older wheels don't have "lips" to hold the tyre in place so go easy on the inflation pressure - hell of a bang a few minutes after inflating my tyres to 100psi on a set of Birmalux (frightened me and the dog!). They have been fine at 80psi, all part of the fun of tinkering with bikes.

Also it could be a good idea to put your cleaned up wheels on eBay if you decide to get alloys - particularly if they are Dunlop lightweights as they seem to command a premium.

 

[EltonFrog]

Have you had yours done there, any before/after pictures?

I had a Dawes Kingpin done there a while back. There are some pics on this blog, I can probably find some clearer ones a bit later. http://daweskingpinbike.blogspot.com/2013/10/dawes-kingpin.html?m=1

 

[Glenn2605]

Birmalux rimmed alloy wheels come up on auction every now and then - if you want to keep "retro" (and sort of British ). Also bear in mind that older wheels don't have "lips" to hold the tyre in place so go easy on the inflation pressure - hell of a bang a few minutes after inflating my tyres to 100psi on a set of Birmalux (frightened me and the dog!). They have been fine at 80psi, all part of the fun of tinkering with bikes.

Also it could be a good idea to put your cleaned up wheels on eBay if you decide to get alloys - particularly if they are Dunlop lightweights as they seem to command a premium.

I'm not sure they're anything special, Rigida is stamped on them.. I'll start digging around ebay and see what comes up. Thanks for the note on pressures, the tyres which were on these rims had 80psi written on them which made me think - the tyres were actually stuck to the rims but I think that's just the years and weather done that!

 

[nonowt]

I think the paint looks fine (it's only original once!). I'd clean it up, t-cut, polish it and ride it for at least 6 months before thinking about re-painting/powder-coating. Speaking from experience, it's very easy to get caught up in the romance of a vintage bike and end up spending hundreds on a bike that's never going to be worth a fraction of that. It's a lovely bike with a timeless style but, unfortunately, even a pristine Corsa is unlikely to fetch more than a £100. A stated above, a better investment would be some alloy wheels (steel are heavy and don't stop in the wet!), some downtube shifters and then maybe a replacement central pull for the rear.

these are cheap and should do the job (assuming to the OLD is right):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27-x-1-1...224371&hash=item3aab01a6e8:g:wyUAAOSwiYlaAnoN

Spokesmann's inspirational Carlton's can be seen here:
http://spokessmann.tripod.com/id11.html

 

[Cycleops]

I take your point about values @nonowt but there is a certain pride and satisfaction in restoring an old bike back to its former glory regardless of the ultimate cost. Anyway it's the OPs call, he'll know what he wants.
I was hoping nobody was going to post a link to spokesmann's bike, the OP might just go out and shoot himself after viewing!
Please keep us up to date on your progress Glenn.