Carlton Identification Help!

I have just purchased an old Carlton bike in the hope of having a project to keep me occupied with.
It was sold as a 1960's bike, however I have no idea how accurate this info is.

The previuous owver has replaced the cranks, bar tape and seat (although these will probably be replaced again), but I believe the remainder of the bike to be original.

I am very new to the 'vintage' scene so I'm not really sure what I am looking for in order to identify this bike.

After a quick clean I did find the numbers 0211883 on the rear dropout....

Pictures below.
Any help on identification and how best to restore would be greatly appreciated.
I would like to keep this bike as original as possible

Can't seem to upload the photos, so hopefully this link will take you there!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... f520b1a4fd

Hi

Welcome . It looks like a Carlton Corsa. The pics are small on my cheap tablet but the lugs are called Crespera and the chrome decal on the top tube should say Carlton Corsa.

We have a resident Carlton fanatic called Spokesman who should be along soon

Shaun

Its a Continental model from around the 1971-73 period. The model was also offered in poly green as well as this less common blue.

Here is how one should look, but in the green colourway:

Re:

Brilliant, thanks very much.
I thought it might be a continental but couldn't find anything online in that colour.

Any suggestions on how best to restore it!
I'm undecided about whether to re-paint.
The paint isn't too bad, just speckled with rust spots.
I would quite like to replace the decals, can this be done at all? If so, where can I find them?

Re:

Just go onto the readers bikes section and look for any of Spokesman's restorations, everything you could possibly wish to know is there.

Re:

Super will do.

Thank you!!!!!

Re: Re:

Clarky07":1hog4mb7 said:

Brilliant, thanks very much.
I thought it might be a continental but couldn't find anything online in that colour.

Any suggestions on how best to restore it!
I'm undecided about whether to re-paint.
The paint isn't too bad, just speckled with rust spots.
I would quite like to replace the decals, can this be done at all? If so, where can I find them?

Click to expand...

If the paintwork is OK, I would clean down first with a mild detergent to get rid of any surface grease. Dry the frame and apply T-cut gently onto the painted areas, doing a little at a time. Allow to dry and buff it off, finish with a clean cloth. Thats should improve the paint no end. As for the decals - the Imichrome decals can be purchased from Dave Marsh at Universal Cycles, I have seen them on sale via Ebay. The saddle should be a leather Wrights W3N - they can be picked up via Ebay, prices vary a lot. Tyres should be amber walled 27 x 1-1/4". The chainwheel should be a 46-tooth spider web design as in my 1973 Continental above. Gears Huret, GB stem and bars and Weinmann 730 brakes.

Restoration can always be a bit tricky as its a balance of (to me) keeping as much original as possible, with only those parts that need changing i.e., tyres, brake blocks and sometime components.

I can post up more of the bike above if you need to see more details. One last thing the machine had blue Sprint Veloce Blumels guards - full type, they can be found but are expensive.

Good luck with the build!

Re:

You've got the basis of a really nice bike there, don't forget to take photos as you go, and start a thread in the readers bikes section.

Enjoy.

Re: Re:

Spokesmann":2yc9rpf3 said:

Clarky07":2yc9rpf3 said:

Brilliant, thanks very much.
I thought it might be a continental but couldn't find anything online in that colour.

Any suggestions on how best to restore it!
I'm undecided about whether to re-paint.
The paint isn't too bad, just speckled with rust spots.
I would quite like to replace the decals, can this be done at all? If so, where can I find them?

Click to expand...

If the paintwork is OK, I would clean down first with a mild detergent to get rid of any surface grease. Dry the frame and apply T-cut gently onto the painted areas, doing a little at a time. Allow to dry and buff it off, finish with a clean cloth. Thats should improve the paint no end. As for the decals - the Imichrome decals can be purchased from Dave Marsh at Universal Cycles, I have seen them on sale via Ebay. The saddle should be a leather Wrights W3N - they can be picked up via Ebay, prices vary a lot. Tyres should be amber walled 27 x 1-1/4". The chainwheel should be a 46-tooth spider web design as in my 1973 Continental above. Gears Huret, GB stem and bars and Weinmann 730 brakes.

Restoration can always be a bit tricky as its a balance of (to me) keeping as much original as possible, with only those parts that need changing i.e., tyres, brake blocks and sometime components.

I can post up more of the bike above if you need to see more details. One last thing the machine had blue Sprint Veloce Blumels guards - full type, they can be found but are expensive.

Good luck with the build!

Click to expand...

Hello again,

Restoration is underway, slowly but surely.
I have been pleasantly surprised with the overall condition of the bike. Still in the process of trying to clean everything piece by piece, but I am nearly there.
I have a new saddle lined up on ebay, and I have sourced some new decals.
I wanted to ask what the horizontal decal on the top tube should say?
Mine is very faded and when speaking to the chap making the decals he didn't know whether it should read 'Continental' or 'Carlton-Truwel' Any ideas?

My wheels appear to be original (or at least very old) however they are only 26" x 1 1/4. I can only assume this is because I have quite a small frame size? it measures 43cm from BB to seat post.
I want to replace the tyres as the rear tyre is quite heavily cracked and the front tyre doesn't look the part, however after numerous ebay and google searches I cannot find anything in the smaller wheel size. Any suggestions?

I don't think I will bother replacing the mud guards. I have the shorter ones on there and again I'm not sure it will have come with bigger ones due to smaller wheels and frame? either way, I think they will be a bit too far outside of my budget.

I have decided to keep the paint as original. There are a few bigger rust spots, but the overall condition is quite good and i don't want to change too much about the bike.
Is there any way of treating the larger rust spots?

Cheers