Project #2: Carlton Thingumybob

So, the singlespeed project is a success!  So far. 

This is good news, because the singlespeed isn't my only ebay project - there is another!

Enter the arena; a Carlton somethingorother.  Built in Worksop in 1974, using 531 tubing, possibly resprayed metallic blue at some point, with no model name anywhere, and a frame layout that doesn't match any other Carlton that I've found pictures of.

No seat yet - I need to get the post measured

I guess the first thing to explain is why I thought it necessary to buy another bike.  I already had two, after all!  Well, at the time I was still pondering singlespeed or geared.  I wanted to try both options, and that meant either swapping components around on the one bike I did have, or buying a whole other bike.  I don't need much of an excuse to buy new things, especially when the new things are lovely retro bikes!  :)

The identity of the new frame has bugged me since I bought it.  I've hunted high and low for similar bikes, but none quite match.  The main issue is the rear brake hanger.  Almost all Carltons have a cable bridge above it, which aligns the cable directly above a centre-pull calliper brake.  Mine doesn't have one, which leads me to believe that it originally had sidepull brakes, or something attached to the seat bolt.  I've seen plenty of other 531-framed Carltons, but none that I've seen are missing the cable bridge.  The ones that are missing it are much older, or have different lugs/seat stays to mine.

So I don't know what it is.  Maybe that shouldn't matter.. Carlton used to be quite flexible when building frames, so maybe mine was a special request for someone who didn't like centrepulls.  Who wouldn't like centrepulls?  That brings me nicely to component choices..

For the brakes, I found a pair of Weinmann Symetric (sic) dual pivot brakes.  Dual pivots were better than the usual side pulls of the time, and better than the centre pulls, so seem like the perfect choice.  Unfortunately, the pair that I bought seem to have been intended for a bike with a plate of metal for a brake bridge, rather than a tube, meaning that the bolt on one of the brakes is incredibly short.  I've got a recessed nut on order that will hopefully solve this problem.

For the chainset, I bought a Nervar crank without really thinking about what I was doing.  The crank is an 80's model, probably from a Peugeot, which looks more modern than I realised.  I'm tempted to swap it for something more in keeping with the frames age, but I'm sticking with it for now.  As it's a French chainset, I had to buy a French bottom bracket.  The tool for fitting it turned out to be crud.  Wiggle advertised it as being good for both cassettes and bottom brackets, but it turned out to not be deep enough for a BB.  I bought a new tool the other day, which will finish the job.

The wheels are 27 inch, with a screw hub.  I bought a 7 speed freewheel for it.

The rear deraileur is a Shimano Arabesque long cage, bought before I realised different cage sizes existed.  The size shouldn't matter - it's just a little bit annoying.  At least it was cheaper than a short cage!  I also bought Arabesque shifters, as I like the retro design.  The front deraileur is a NOS 70s Nervar model.

What else is there?  A GB stem, Raleigh handlebar, Weinmann brake levers..  no seat post as yet.  Oh yes - the seat post!  When measuring the seat tube with a ruler (not the best method for determining seat post size), I noticed a 5mm crack coming off the bottom of the slit (is there a technical name for that?).

Cracked seat post, pre-drilling.  :(

This seems to have been caused by a previous owner over-tightening the seat bolt onto a seat post that was too small.  Internet knowledge said to drill a hole at the end of the crack, to stop it spreading.  I've done that, but now I'm incredibly cautious about what I'm going to do about a seat post.  A trip to a bike shop is probably in order, as apparently they have tools for measuring seat tubes.

When the bike is complete, it should be a nice middle ground between the MTB and the singlespeed.  It'll be interesting to see how it fares.