A couple of years ago I bought an early 80s Carlton Criterium, which was a great bike but just not suited to my purposes. After a bit of research I concluded that the Corsair would be more suited to my needs. Then a Dawes Super Galaxy came up on here this time last year and I bought that instead, so the search was off.
From time to time I do a "nearest first" search on eBay to see if any local bargains turn up and a couple of weeks ago I came across a badly listed Corsair in need of a bit of TLC with a starting price of £45. I was all set to bid until I found the same picture in an unrelated listing with a BIN of £250. I don't know if the £45 listing was a scam or if the seller didn't have a camera, but either way I was out.
Slightly closer was this, described as a Classic Raleigh Racer. It had an impressive rattle can respray, which may well have been conducted while the bike was being ridden, with overspray on everything. A PM to our resident Carlton expert confirmed what I thought, it was a late 70s Carlton Corsair.
Other than the paint it looked to be in reasonable condition so I decided it was worth gambling £40 on and I picked it up yesterday. It looked a lot better in real life and shouldn't need too much to put it back on the road.
The seat post and stem both moved perfectly easily and the wheels are true, which is half the battle. The seat post is smaller than I would expect for a 531 frame, about 26.4mm. I'll try to scrape the paint off the Reynolds sticker and see what it says. It's got a W frame number though, so it shouldn't be a gas pipe frame.
I'm not sure what kind of derailleur this is but I have a Suntour VX to replace it. It seems that the early Corsairs didn't have a built in derailleur mount. This bike only has QR on the front, I don't know if that's normal. It's also got what looks to be a 14-24 freewheel, which will be replaced with something from my shed.
I've never seen a rack attached this way before. I think I have one in the shed that can make use of the braze-ons.
My plan is to give it a good service and get it as presentable as possible, then use it for a while to see if it warrants further work. I had planned to repaint it myself with rattle cans but I've a feeling it would end up costing more than paying somebody to do it properly.
From time to time I do a "nearest first" search on eBay to see if any local bargains turn up and a couple of weeks ago I came across a badly listed Corsair in need of a bit of TLC with a starting price of £45. I was all set to bid until I found the same picture in an unrelated listing with a BIN of £250. I don't know if the £45 listing was a scam or if the seller didn't have a camera, but either way I was out.
Slightly closer was this, described as a Classic Raleigh Racer. It had an impressive rattle can respray, which may well have been conducted while the bike was being ridden, with overspray on everything. A PM to our resident Carlton expert confirmed what I thought, it was a late 70s Carlton Corsair.
Other than the paint it looked to be in reasonable condition so I decided it was worth gambling £40 on and I picked it up yesterday. It looked a lot better in real life and shouldn't need too much to put it back on the road.
The seat post and stem both moved perfectly easily and the wheels are true, which is half the battle. The seat post is smaller than I would expect for a 531 frame, about 26.4mm. I'll try to scrape the paint off the Reynolds sticker and see what it says. It's got a W frame number though, so it shouldn't be a gas pipe frame.
I'm not sure what kind of derailleur this is but I have a Suntour VX to replace it. It seems that the early Corsairs didn't have a built in derailleur mount. This bike only has QR on the front, I don't know if that's normal. It's also got what looks to be a 14-24 freewheel, which will be replaced with something from my shed.
I've never seen a rack attached this way before. I think I have one in the shed that can make use of the braze-ons.
My plan is to give it a good service and get it as presentable as possible, then use it for a while to see if it warrants further work. I had planned to repaint it myself with rattle cans but I've a feeling it would end up costing more than paying somebody to do it properly.
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Nice find for £40 Someone might have put in a smaller seat post and tightened the clamp more as it should be 531.........
