New Carlton Thread
Posted by: George Fredrik on 06 December 2010
In the summer I had rebuilt the old lady with a good selection of Campagnolo running gear. However certain parts eluded me at a reasonable price - and the price has to be reasonable.
But since my return from my Polish fortnight, I have been searching diligently for good parts to finish the job. NOS - British Standard Bottom Bracket, Headset, fine used brake levers [to compliment the fine calipers already fitted], and a mint rear derailleur - all from the Record group set between 1973 and 1985. Plus an amazing gift of later "C" Record gear levers [fitted and superb] ...
The only remaining thing to do is to build some wheels on Record hubs [already in the shed from the summer-time] with Ambrosio rims ... This will wait till New Year ...
I have ordered some Brooks bar tape to match, and Christmas week [vacation by order!] will see a significant amount of further fining down details and rebuilding.
I hope that this thread may live long enough to see some fine photos of a truly finalised set-up.
Something to gladden my heart in an innocent sort of way.
Dobranoc, all, from George
PS: The cycle is daily machine as well for fun, and it is no fair weather cycle, as a commuting machine. Really it is a biking parallel to an older Bentley [without the implied weight!] so really too nice to use that way, but a real pleasure in spite of being too nice to leave tied to a lamp post if I go into town. Fortunately only cyclists of certain [veteran] age recognise it for what it is. Otherwise it is simply old hat.
In the Hifi Corner a frequent piece of advice is to get the "cable dressing" right. Routing it so there is no unavoidable contacts in the cable length and so on.
Of course cycle brake cables should be attended to with at least as much care, and it amazes me to see so many bikes not just with an inch or two of superfluous lengths of brake cabling but often unwieldy, un-necessary lengths!
Today I shortened mine marginally to the exactly lengths needed to avoid pulling or pushing on the brake calipers and running into them in nicely perpendicular. A small detail perhaps, but all part of honing the set-up towards the optimimum.
The other thing is it looks neat, quite apart from making the braking effort more efficient and smoother.
ATB from George
And two shots showing the headset that I fitted over Christmas, now so smooth that there is no thought of actually "steering" at all! ... not a a rattle or shake in sight, with lovely smooth front braking when needed!
One "over the top." A lovely view as everything is so low down that the only thing you can really see of the bike is the top of the wheel - looking forawrd.
And a once great British Marque. What a shame that Raleigh [which owned Carlton from 1961, and preserved the tradition of handbuilt cycles for at least another thirty years] is now the purveyer of mass-produced badge engineered imported cycles. For the price of top cycles, surely there should be room for a high quality British maker such as Houldsworth or Carlton, handbuilding excellent and not too expensive cycles to compete with the best imports from Italy and so forth. I don't discount the bespoke makers, but in retailing terms these are more splendid Saville Row than superb mainstream High Street - naturally this is reflected in the price difference.
Apart from the new wheels, and a replacement saddle the old lady is now exactly where I wanted her to be when I set out my notion of what I want to make her about twelve months ago.
After that it is a question of gentle TLC to maintain the standard.
ATB from George
PS: Two big projects in the near future, and one is to build those Jordan JX drivers into two very unusual speaker cabinets! Less effort will be needed for those than the bike! But the pleasure to be gained will be just as exquisite, and ongoing as any nice project should yield. Pointless of itself, but a great pleasure all the same, for the results of the efforts put in.
The good news first. After my crash with a car on 13th December, the insurance has finally agreed to pay out, subject to the evidence of injury. Of course this evidence is easy enough to get, and once obtained from the NHS, I have to see an independant [private?] consultant for an almightily expensive [no doubt] report to be written ... the driver would have been better off to admit early responsibility, as every letter the solicitor writes is no doubt costing his insurance company fifty £ a shot. I sincerely hope that his insurance premium increase, as a result, is more than any fine might have been. I am not usually vindictive, but the stress of the claim has been worse than the actual injuries and damage. Crazy ...
I can see this going on months yet, but the corner is turned with the admission of liability.
As the for old bike itself, well the old and lovely Selle San Marco Supercorsa has finally died after a long illness brought on by me straightening out the rails after the smash, so as I cannot get another till the claim is settled, I put back on the very hard and narrow saddle that the first owner installed!
But I shall get a Brookes "Swift" when the insurance is actually settled after ridng a seriously narrow and uncompromising B17 on a proper old English road bike. Hard as iron, but no aches or pains at all! Must have been good for me to ride horses as a youngster. Seems my bottom is also hard as iron!
I also gave up on the putative plan to build up another English frame with the excess of spares that I accumulated during the Carlton rebuild. And as I hope to move from this flat in the next month or two, I have been having a right sort out, and I found a North Road bar of modern making [very very light in ally, bought for a bargain fifty pence!] that I had attached to the original Carlton stem. I fitted it to the bike, and this improves the bike's geometry more than might possibly have been imagined. The comfort and safety of the North Road bar [over the modern drop bar] are now aligned to a steering stem that puts the bar almost three inches further forward, and thus eliminates the usual problem of the North Road bar, which is tiller steering, or the hands acting on the bar behind the steering tube. The additional stability inherent in the foward position will probably lead to me killing myself by cornering too fast, but so what! I find that I have lost the inhibition of using the bell, and it is amazing how quickly pedestrians wake up as they step off the curb when they hear it!
Anyway, when the insurance comes, I'll finish the old lady off: Brookes saddle, and bar tape, as the new bar is without currently! And two new wheels, and the bike is going so well, that I'll get two good racing tyres for the summer!
George,
Get some tape on those bar ends!
I hope that nice man gets all he deserves.
Jono
Tip the nose of your saddles down to avoid the numb todger experience and watch out for the milk wagon on those back roads in Herefordshire.
Jono
Dear Jono,
I have heeded your advice. I did experiments over three weeks with different degrees of tipping forward. I also watched the videos on Youtube about Greame Obree, who was only a legend in my memory before that, and picked up some ideas I have experimented with for getting power through the bike. I am no Obree of course, but the man speaks more sense in thirty seconds than I have ever heard in my life up till now about riding technique.
Today I bought a nice "three speed" English bike from the late 1970s. Black and nothing spare on it except for mudguards. £70 from a guy in Tewkesbury. Picking her up tomorrow. And the reason is that I have to give the back wheel from the Peugeot back with this nice weather and all. Simply put, my efforts on the Carlton have stalled - since the crash in terms of being able to finish the work - for lack of money, and there is still the matter of building the two wheels up, which is enough more than £70 for me to say that it is unafordble for months perhaps. So a second bike that is eminently suitable for winter use comes till I can get back to sorting the wheels and final details out to safely guarantee getting to work on time or ahving a fun ride out ...
But I fitted a new aluminium North Road bar, on the bike's original aluminium stem, which give a nice forward postion for stability in bends, and the combination is less than half the weight of the old 1930s steel components. That is called win-win, I believe! The bar cost me the pricely sum of fifty pence!
Anyway here is a photo of the Carlton with the new saddle position [tipping slightly forward] with the new bar, taken last Thursday. And another of her new stablemate, below. Reckon they will have lots to talk about when I am not there to overhear!
The replacement saddle will not do in the longer run [was originally a proper sprung Brookes], but on twenty-six inch wheels, relaxed geometry, with nice big ally mudguards, and no excess weight, I reckon she will make for a nice sanguine mount for sunny days and rainy alike! I like things that are understated. It is an Elswick Hopper [Brigg], and very reminiscent of my first full sized bike also made by Elswick and the same size, which was rather older of course, and has a 22 inch frame rather than the 23 of the Carlton, so more my size. And another hand me down [like the Carlton!] in 1975, when it was massively too big for a 13 year old! I think this is why I love big frames. I learned to ride long distances on them before I knew better! Initially I had to ride it always off the saddle as I could not reach the bottom of the pedals from the saddle ! 
My first EH met a tragic end, when a youth at work decided to test it for strength by driving a two ton forklift over it. It was a premeditated action, apparently, and conclusively proved that the frame was possible to bend permanently. I was very sad and very angry, but there was nothing to do but get another bike. That was a Dawes, and it was not my cup of tea. It was the only bike I ever had that was officially the right size, but it rode like a stuffed pig. Heavy and tiring, though good for training I suppose, but I was using it for a six mile each way daily commute to work ...
You may guess that the Carlton will be the boss, but this is a second bike I shall really cherish unlike the Peugeot which commanded rspect rather then affection for me. I think it was my first EH bike that made me love riding bikes.
My mate wants the Peugeot back in one piece, but really so it can be sold, so he can get somthing new and "fancy!" Yuck! I know it will look like it weighs a "cwt" and be made of something synthetic with a flashy paint job! Double Yuck! But each to their own!
ATB from George
I have collected the "little" bike, and little it does feel to ride though three inches longer than the Carlton, but very pleasant and safely slower as well.
Strangely I think she will become my regular commuting bike. The three speed hub is bliss, though it ticks away merrily, unlike the almost complete silence of the Carlton. The ride is bolt upright, and stable as could be imagined. And the weight is surprisingly small, especially considering that modern economy priced bikes tend to be rather too heavy to be enjoyable in my experience.
Steel through out, including the mudguards, which I took for Ally in the photo above. strange to have a bike with steels rims again!
Very happy with this. A reminder of simpler, and happier times.
Even the completely not period saddle is fine in reality!
Love it for what it is, and even for its lack of finesse. It is a stark reminder of the quality of the Carlton, but has qualities of its own that will cause it to be much used, but not out of town I think!
ATB from George
Used the new one for work today, and what a pleasure was to be had. A real reminder of my first big bike in the 1970s. Not fast and the three speeds are well calculated to be useful and unfussy. Flat out is about running speed, and this requires as much work as the Carlton at rather quicker velocity, but the new one handles very nicely and has faultless manners - the brakes work quite well.
I weighed the Carlton, the Peugeot and the new one this evening after fettling the back wheel and brake. 8, 10 and 14 kgs respectively. I thought the Carlton was the same as the Pug, but obviously the replacement running gear is lighter than the original, and it all contributes to lightness when so many parts are finer. The new wheels will be lighter again, when I eventually get them!
The Carlton and the Elswick Hopper will make for a grand choice - one which invites you to go as fast as you can, and the other that is comfortable at a relaxed pace, and easy in the traffic. Also it will be grand to have such effective mudguards in the rain.
ATB from George
PS: [Next day commute]. One failed valve [and new tube - thanks be for late night closing in some shops] and the Elswick has proved herself a steady mount. More like a Morris Minor than than a Jaguar XK 120, but none the less fine for that. Totally precise in steering and road manners, but with a limited top speed, but perfectly modulated for the purpose. And the Carlton, now looking very forelorn with hubs but no wheels! Two photos to show:
Dobranoc!
Sunday morning saw me doing some overtime at work, helping the owner with finishing off a new dry store room. I originally agreed to Saturday, but owing to a rather fine Birthday Party of my best Polish friend [27] Saturday had to be cancelled [in advance of course] as a possible day for anything other than recovery! I got home about half past nine on Saturday morning ... After that nothing but sleep and food about eight in the evening!
But when I got home from work today I set about the Elswick. I filled the Sturmey Archer gear hub with oil, though this is a flushing exercise yet, as Sheldon Brown recommends ATF as the optimal high quality oil for the units, as it works well in the hot and more important works well in the cold. Also changed the rear inner tube so that I have valves that fit my pump. Now I have fifty PSI in the tyres, and the rolling resistance has reduced to a degree that makes hill-climbing a pleasure rather than a walk!
I fettled the back wheel mounting for perfectly vertical, as the pressed steel dropouts [rather than drop forged on a performance cycle] are such that you have to work harder for true alignment.
RESULT! I rode over to Pawel's to see if his Saturday had been as much of a non-event as mine and mounted the one in four of Lansdowne Cresent Lane [Rainbow Hill, at the back of what was Elgar's home between 1926 and 1934 - called Marl Bank] with the greatest of ease, though standing on the pedals was necessary - even if not a recommended practice with a hub gear on a cycle! Think cross-bars and crushed testicles if the gear slips .. ouch, and yes I have managed that more than once in my life though they still work okay!
Here is a photo taken on my return!
The Carlton will soon be back in the loop if I can keep doing some over-time.
ATB from George
A saddle to fit the cycle!
A standard steels framed Brooks B17. Not any of the more expensive fancy things like the optional Titanium frame or the lovely hand beaten copper rivets, just the original saddle style. As classic and understated as the machine itself!
