Carlton project

[IanCarlton]

Carrying on from http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/carlton-owner.166294/

Local ebay purchase. Unfortunately, has been rather neglected, it has been repainted at least twice and all bearings have a lot of play.

I intend to get it road worthy while keeping it as vintage as possible. I haven't touched a bike for about 35 years and am more used to motorbikes so please feel free to correct any terminology or throw in any tips.

 

[IanCarlton]

14.4kg starting weight. The stand and rack will be the first to come off, the pedals have to go and the handlebar stem and seat post are too rusty so will need to be replaced.

 

[Tony Raynor]

Doesn't look too bad. It's amazing what a good clean will do. First thing before doing too much is to check that the seatpost and handlebar stems aren't stuck. Once these are free the rest is a lot easier. There's plenty of posts on cleaning chrome parts and other things.

Any questions just ask, we are friendly peeps.

 

[biggs682]

Doesn't look too bad. It's amazing what a good clean will do. First thing before doing too much is to check that the seatpost and handlebar stems aren't stuck. Once these are free the rest is a lot easier. There's plenty of posts on cleaning chrome parts and other things.

Any questions just ask, we are friendly peeps.

as per Tony's comments really but please keep the pics coming

 

[IanCarlton]

Hi, yes the seatpost and stem are both free but aren't looking too good. I started on the front hub yesterday which took longer than expected as the grease was dry as a bone and had to be scraped out.

There are some qustions that I'm hoping someone may be able to help with:

The frame no. starts with NE4 then another six digits so I'm guessing that would be 1984 rather than 1974 - the plastic covers on the gear levers don't look 70's do they?

Any idea what model this might be? The usual rear centre pull bracket is absent and the right hand fork is not threaded for the lamp holder.

My local powder coater is charging £60 for a blast and coat or £20 for a shot blast, so I'm thinking of just getting it blasted and spraying it myself. Has anyone come up with a good match for the original Carlton metallic green?

Any suggestions welcome...

 

[midlife]

Crespera lugs are 1967 to 1974 but Carlton used them on a multutude of frames from the Carlton 10 to the Corsa. Going by the number it's deffo 1974 any sign of the original colour?

Shaun

 

[Tony Raynor]

@IanCarlton you are correct in the year time frame. NE4 was made in Nottingham in April of either 1974 or 1984. Makes it easier to try and guess the model if you can find the catalogs

 

[Tony Raynor]

Also in respect to powder coating versus rattle can. I've just done one using rattle can and the cost of undercoat, paint and clear coat isn't overly cheap. If the place that's doing the powder coating is good I would probably recommend getting them doing it just to save time and effort. I've been quoted £53 so it's not overly expensive. If the are good they can start doing fancy stuff with a 2 coat system. Mine was charging £83 for two coat and the finishes looked very nice.

Also here is a link to the 74 catalog but I can't see it too well. I believe it may have been @Spokesmann that posted it. He will be able to give more info on model.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110238

 

[biggs682]

good news re seat post and quill stem free .

£60 for a shot and blast is good . But why not get roadworthy first and use it a bit before deciding re powdercoating as once its done all the originality has gone

 

[IanCarlton]

Crespera lugs are 1967 to 1974 but Carlton used them on a multutude of frames from the Carlton 10 to the Corsa. Going by the number it's deffo 1974 any sign of the original colour?

Shaun

That's interesting thanks, I had automatically assumed it was an 80s bike. The original colour is still under 3 or 4 coats of paint, it's the metallic green as used on the Corsa.

 

[IanCarlton]

Also in respect to powder coating versus rattle can. I've just done one using rattle can and the cost of undercoat, paint and clear coat isn't overly cheap. If the place that's doing the powder coating is good I would probably recommend getting them doing it just to save time and effort. I've been quoted £53 so it's not overly expensive. If the are good they can start doing fancy stuff with a 2 coat system. Mine was charging £83 for two coat and the finishes looked very nice.

Also here is a link to the 74 catalog but I can't see it too well. I believe it may have been @Spokesmann that posted it. He will be able to give more info on model.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110238

Thanks for that, it doesn't seem to fit any of those exactly though.

 

[IanCarlton]

good news re seat post and quill stem free .

£60 for a shot and blast is good . But why not get roadworthy first and use it a bit before deciding re powdercoating as once its done all the originality has gone

I agree. Powder coating is commonplace on motorbike frame restorations nowadays but it looks wrong to me - it's too thick and you lose detail.

An interesting afternoon in the workshop today, stripped the steering head bearings. 26 balls in the lower race and 13 and 3 halves in the top :/ The grease was like valve grinding paste and new races are obviously required. Some people's idea of maintenance is shocking.

More bad news, there was a dent in the front forks under the dirt. They were only a couple of mm out of true though. It was surprising how little force was required to true them up, I'm not going to put the front wheel between my legs while tapping the handlebars ever again.

Latest picture, looking better already.

 

[biggs682]

does the stem have a small badge riveted on ?

An interesting afternoon in the workshop today, stripped the steering head bearings. 26 balls in the lower race and 13 and 3 halves in the top :/ The grease was like valve grinding paste and new races are obviously required. Some people's idea of maintenance is shocking.

.

interesting comment re grease like valve grinding past i stripped the headset on my Freddie Grubb a couple of weeks ago and that was the same but all the bearings and races cleaned up ok .

Powdercoating is good if done well , last one i had done has made me very wary about doing again .

 

[IanCarlton]

does the stem have a small badge riveted on ?

There is rivet on the stem and a hole where it looks like a rivet was (pic.) Does that mean something to you?

 

[IanCarlton]

Stripped down the bottom bracket yesterday, this bike doesn't look like it has received any maintenance since leaving the factory. The race area on the crank spindle is too damaged to re-use but there is a secondhand replacement on the way.

Also, more disappointment, another dent was spotted on the top tube so I'm having a rethink on the restoration of this. I'm wondering if it would be best to spend as little on this as possible and just get it roadworthy to use as a daily hack and wait for a better condition Corsa to come up.