Any help please - what is this lovely old SS/fixie?

Hi all

I've inherited this off a deceased collector in the village - any help much appreciated to ID it, so I can do a restoration with the right paint/badges/decals etc.

I think it might be a Carlton?

Link to Dropbox folder with piccys: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kwr94k38w9ma ... FPoCa?dl=0

Many thanks!


Cheers

Mike

nice looking quality frame with headclip headset indicates possible 1930's to mid 1940's build, close up pics of head lugs and frame number would help identify the marque and judging by the components Chater Lea chainset/Harden drilled hubs/South of France style bars with Reynolds extension etc. make this an attractive desirable steed....good luck with the search!

Griff

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Thanks Griff - OK, I've added a bunch of close-ups to the folder. There's a lot of paint on the BB but the 'CAR' and 'British' are very clear.

Would this survive a shotblasting intact? no sign of rust anywhere.

Cheers

Mike

That does look like a 30s frame. Some of the components on there stretch into the 50s but I'm fairly certain the frame is much earlier. The Chater Lea crankset, handlebars and clip headset are early, probably the same age as the frame. Alloy 'lugged' Reynolds stem is a bit later, as are the GB Coureur brakes.

There are three, maybe four things that will help you identify it. The lugwork on the frame and fork match, so we know they go together and they are quite distinctive, so it should point to the signature lugwork of a particular builder. Those deep spears are what you're looking for and I have seen them before. Same goes for the scalloped seat stays. You've got a frame number so you should be able to date it once you determine the builder. Rough date stab in the dark: pre war bikes had chrome, wartime bikes did not due to chromium being in short supply, postwar bikes had chrome again. Clip headsets were common in the 30s but were pretty much obsolete by the 40s. I'd say, because of the fancier lugwork which was less common in the 30s, that this is the later end of the 30s, perhaps early 40s, but maybe a bit flash for a wartime bike when times were hard.

Have a click through all the frame builders on Classic Lightweights http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders.html because I'm sure I've seen those lugs on there.

I would suggest the frame is no earlier than 1938, head clip and cast lugs common early post war, often from old stock.

A lot of work has gone into the lug set, I expected to see a name in the bottom bracket casting that I recognised, like Brampton.

Harden hub, bars and stem perhaps 1950, BH airlite rear hub similar, but were produced pre war.

More like Gillott than Carlton, but can't place it.

Keith

Re:

One thing it definitely isn't,is a fixie.

Re: Re:

jm":b1rotczd said:

One thing it definitely isn't,is a fixie.

Click to expand...

When you turn the back wheel around it most certainly is

Fixie:



Fixed gear, yes, but yours is not that!

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it has a fixed gear. Therefore in MY universe, it can justifiably be called a fixie. What you do in your own universe is entirely up to you sir.

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In the 30s or 40s it was Fixed gear. Fixie is a new phenomenon Lovely frame and lug work. I can't make out the serial number.

Simon