Carlton Corsair, new arrival

[avecReynolds531]

Love the use of those (velo orange) mudguards - still trying to decide which bike to put mine on

I think that your post has helped me to decide.

Thanks, I like the Velo Orange mudguards a lot: no rattles, good coverage, not difficult to install.
Fresh Tripe were great to deal with.

 

[slow scot]

A question about gearing for the wise and knowledgeable:

The bike has a 14-24 SunTour Perfect freewheel. I'd like to know if this is the original block. I've no reason to think that it has been replaced, as my old 1982 bike had the same brand of freewheel (but with 14-34) and the bike has obviously not been modified much from new. But whereas a 14-34 block is wide-ratio and suitable for touring, a 14-24 is fairly close-ratio and half way to a racing spec.

Thing is, the Corsair is a light tourer. It comes with a rear rack and guards, with appropriate braze-ons, but no facility for a front rack, so it sits between a sports bike and a full tourer like the Dawes Galaxy. It has full mudguards, and the frame angles are classic tourer at 72 parallel. Crucially, the rear mech is a wide-ratio mech. It's identical to the one on my old bike, and that coped with a 34T sprocket no problem. So what is the 14-24 doing there? Does anyone know if this is how they came from the factory with this block? All the images I have seen, including the brochure pics further up this thread, seem to show a large gear on the back. Maybe it was a change that happened when the Corsair GT (my old one) superseded the older version. A 47" low gear on a light tourer doesn't make sense.

It's a bit of a mystery to me, and I am just curious. I'd like to replace the block with something more suited to old legs and local hills. I haven't seen a 14-34 anywhere, but there are some 14-32 blocks around, usually at silly prices. Presumably the SunTour freewheel is long out of production, but are there any reliable sources for NOS or something equivalent?

(Dodged the showers and had another spin out on it today. It's a really lovely ride, better than I remember.)

I have an eight speed SunRace freewheel 13-32 teeth. It's brand new, still in the box, and if it's any use to you it's your's for free. I bought it, most likely from Spa Cycles, to put on my old Claud Butler, but never used it.
For the avoidance of any doubt it is not a cassette!

 

[RichardB]

I have used these on a couple of bikes:

Thanks for the link. I'd never thought of looking on Amazon before.

 

[RichardB]

Congrats on the beautiful Carlton & thanks for the thread - really interesting.

I was puzzled about the gearing too: the freewheel and chainset didn't seem to be for a light tourer at all. That lovely brochure scan on the first page of the thread shows a bigger freewheel (not a 24), but still with a road chainset.

Thanks to midlife for the explanation of the Pro Am history & shared components. I love the term velo demi-course which would (I think!) translate as half road racing bike.

My early 80s 531 is similar but I ditched the rear rack. Photo included to show the gearing (all original): 5 speed 14/34 Suntour Perfect freewheel, Suntour derailleurs & downtube levers, & a nice 36/50 Sakae chainset. That combination seems to work well for the type of bike. I don't use the 34 too much, but it's good to have it there.

Regarding the contact points and colour: for what it's worth, I'm very happy with the B17 and tape on the SR Road Champion bars like this.
( https://www.velovitality.co.uk/coll...tape/products/gecko-grip-all-weather-bar-tape )

All the best with the Corsair & many happy miles ahead!

Thanks for the kind comments. The gearing on my 1982 original was 52/42 and 14-34. This gave a range of 33" up to 100", which is a reasonable general-purpose setup. The chainrings look fairly 'racy' but the whole shebang worked quite well. I was commuting across the Yorkshire Wolds for a while, and I modified it slightly: I bought an SR 36T chainring and put the 52T in the attic, moved the 42T to the outside, and put the 36T on the inside. This gave a range of 28" to 81", which is far better for hilly terrain (you don't need a big top gear when you've got gravity!). That took me everywhere I wanted to go.

Until I sort the gearing out on the new one (IF i sort it out) I will be riding round with a 47" low gear, which means I have to get out of the saddle and attack a longish hill which ever way I go from my house. It's been years since I did that (years of mountain and touring bikes with low bottom gears) and it's taken a bit of getting used to again, but I can do it and perhaps I should just man up, keep the 14-24 and develop my legs better!

It's a nice problem to have. I'm just sooooooooo pleased with the bike. Did I say it was a lovely, comfy ride?

I have ordered a black B17 and black cloth tape for the bars. In the end, brown all over was just too 70s.

 

[Gunk]

Makes me smile when they reinvent a concept and call it a gravel bike.

A steel framed 1980's bike with 27 x 1 1/4 tyres does it better than any modern offering.

 

[RichardB]

I have an eight speed SunRace freewheel 13-32 teeth. It's brand new, still in the box, and if it's any use to you it's your's for free. I bought it, most likely from Spa Cycles, to put on my old Claud Butler, but never used it.
For the avoidance of any doubt it is not a cassette!

That's an amazingly kind offer, and I'd love to take you up on it. Happy to pay postage and any costs. I assume/hope that all I would need to do was get a narrow 8-speed chain. Will send you a DM, cheers.

 

[slow scot]

That's an amazingly kind offer, and I'd love to take you up on it. Happy to pay postage and any costs. I assume/hope that all I would need to do was get a narrow 8-speed chain. Will send you a DM, cheers.

Got your messages and hope I managed to reply. I've never used the message system before and am still very unsure on computers. Just let me know on here if you did get it!
Enjoying reading the thread.

 

[carpenter]

I have ordered a black B17 and black cloth tape for the bars. In the end, brown all over was just too 70s.

excellent decade though

 

[RichardB]

Both got through! Thanks Bob.

 

[RichardB]

excellent decade though

Absolutely right! I can't say I had massive fun in the 60s, as I was only 17 when they ended, but the 70s were my decade and I had a great time. However, I remember a lot of colour combinations (such as brown and orange) which should be banned by law. The Burnt Bronze and Champagne of the Corsair is just acceptable, but I have concluded that extending the brown theme to all the contact points would be a Step Too Far.

Still listening to Yes and Led Zeppelin, though.

 

[Gunk]

I've been debating with bar tape on my 1960's Olympic, I agree that brown bar tape is a bit 1970's. I'm going for dark brown Brooks and Black bar tape. It'll look a bit less contrived.

 

[RichardB]

Sounds like a plan

 

[RichardB]

Black B17 now installed and looking good.

The bar tape was a bit of a mess and turned out to be manky cloth tape with black electrical tape over the top. This didn't want to come off but I won in the end. The bike now has plain black cloth tape and feels much nicer under the hands.

There was no drama with the lever hoods in the end. I followed advice from here - it's been a long time since I did drop bars - and loosened the levers and popped them forward, which meant that I didn't have to disturb the very brittle rubber hoods. I think it all went quite well, and the bike certainly looks neater.

I added a black bottle cage from my parts bin, for added non-brownness. I think the whole thing is looking pretty good. The black and the brown complement each other quite well.

Now for a ride. When the rain stops.

 

[Gunk]

You can’t beat a B17 I fitted one to my CB project today

 

[carpenter]

Looking really good @RichardB - please don't take this the wrong way, I think some amber walls would be the finishing touch 😊