New Carlton Thread

Well the weekend saw over fifty measured miles on the rebuilt Carlton, and ne'er a spanner put near her to tidy up!

This evening I took the Elswick out, having replaced [with NOS parts for the grand total of £19] the thumb shifter and cable that indexes the three speed hub on Sturmey Archer  "AW" - made between 1936 and about 2002. Perfect again. Nice to have the two bikes now on the top-line. Such a contrast in character, and, being so different in nature, utterly complimentary. Two contrasted classic English frames equipped as they should be for their different styles.

I may soon get a third bike! Saved from the scrap again! A Polish one with a lovely frame, but sadly equipped with ghastly plastic brakes and one wheel is a complete disaster, but it could be made very useful, and allow me to learn how modern cassette gears fit together. The dismantle will be very instructive. After all, that is how I learned on my original Elswick in the 1970s, and the Carlton over the last two years!

ATB from George

Well George, this thread is called the New Carlton Thread and at last it looks like it truly is "New"

Splendid, well done. I just hope you can keep out of the wars in the future.

Julian

Dear Julian.

Old Carltons are like old LP12s! They require lots of TLC, Though less fiddly than a TT, and reveal glorious function that is not long term - the next fettle might only be a week away!

But at the moment when it all falls together, the result is genius! 

The picture gives only a hint of what that bike can get out of an old-timer ...

Like my basses, when I played, the equiment is crucial. Alpha plus kit, and you are set for a pleasing result ....

Best from George

The plan for the rebuild germinated in early 2009, and in May that year I had the cycle re-enamelled at Argos Racing Cycles in Bristol. Then I rebuilt her with a some of the old Italian Campagnolo parts still in place in the current set-up. The improvement of the running gear continued really till this time last year with only a pair of wheels to be built up and fitted. This was delayed by the crash last December [Insurance still not finalised - sigh], but this shows the finished restoration in a nicely lit photo that catches the nature of the machine. Essentially the arrangement is a typical style for an English racing cycle in the period between perhaps 1920, and the late 1940s, before the modern drop bar became the fashion. The exception is that the running gear is later [1960s - 1980s] so that most of the advantages of the old style are enhanced with much better running gear. 

I thank everyone who has had the patience to follow this thread and make such nice replies and suggestions ...

But now the old cycle has but one job to do - and she does - and that is simply to be a great pleasure to use. Already I am planning a long ride in Norway next year! While sometimes a job done leads to a sense of anti-climax, in this case, the anticipation of using the cycle in great adventures is still there!

ATB from George

Well from my house sitting in Bromyard, I came home after work - having safely delivered the lovely miniscule Citroen Saxo to its home - I rode the Carlton back to Worcester, up hill and down dale [this is not easy cycling country] - at a measusred average speed of 18.06 [lets settle for 18] mph.

The very tall top speed of 53 over 13 [23 - 700c tyres, and Greame Obree's chosen top ratio for training]] means that pedalling at 25 mph out of a down gradient before the next uphill enables a good momentum to be kept.  This is crucial to maintaining quick results without wearing one's self out on serious banks. You are half way up the next hill before really starting to drop the ratio ...

That cycle is indeed not only well set up from cold, but also well judged in the useful gearing! I am well pleased [as the Mandarin says in the "Inn of the Seventh Happiness"] with my choice, though I could not have predicted the ability of the of the old Carlton frame to absorb the necessary road roughness to allow for such lightness of touch. The art of great frame building is the reason why this bike works. And many long and happy tours in Europe will consequently follow. There are only the brake cable outers that are plastic. No other synthetic parts. Old style can be great even today ,,,

ATB from George

First scars on the Brooks! Last night at about 10:30 [after an impromtu Polish BBQ - impromtu is often the best] I called by the mini Co-op for some Tyskie, and whilst leaving noted a young [hoodie-type] rush out of the door with a box of Peronni under his arm. I dropped the cycle and gave chase, but he escaped. I offered to give a witness statement to the staff in the shop, but was told that all had been caught CCTV.  I then had a minor panic as I dropped the cycle in the dark and could not find it straight away! This morning revealed a nice graze on the saddle, but nothing to worry about. 

It would look unsightly on a plastic saddle, but leather can take knocks and still look fine - part of a natural aging process with use!

ATB from George

One thing that getting a simple little cycle computer has shown is that I do far more miles than I thought. Usually I go out in the evening for the fun of it, if not in a very focussed fashion about where!

Even without anything exceptional at the weekend it is about 100 miles in a week, of which the actual commute is about 20 miles.

The new wheels and tyres show the significance of decent parts rather than just the cheapest when arranged in a good enough cycle to benefit from them. The one in four hill that would [when i first got her]  stall me on the Elswick is managed without even the lowest ratio on the Carlton now. The hill is one in four and the second bottom ratio is 42 over 21, which is quite a tall gear to attack such a bank! 

Needless to say, the cycle has well exceeded my expectations. If there is a regret at all it is that I should have got such a bike many years ago, rather than using heavy iron for so long!

Anyway I am going to share a social weekend later this month with a fellow Carlton owner, and that will be my first social cycling for over thirty years. So I say goodbye to this thread, just before the insurance is finalised from last December's accident. Shame that the whole thing was so slow as it kept the cycle off the road for four months till I could gather enough together to finish putting the old girl back together.

Methinks that Kruger Rands are probably the safest bet in terms of an investment these days if the insurance comes to anything!

ATB from George

Successfully scaling a 1:4 or 25% gradient in a 42x21 means you wouldn't fare poorly in the Tour de France. You should post your achievements to a pro team. Seriously.

Dear Winki,

I am not fooling you. No bull here, but if I had had a bike like this in my twenties  - rather than being fifty in December - I might have made something of it! 

Nothing to regret except the timing of finally having a great machine under me!

I suspect that my stamina is not what it might have been thirty years ago! But that does not mean I'll be resigned about brave rides!

Next June I plan a 180 mile ride to Skurdalen [Geilo is the nearest mapped town] from Oslo, and a week later the decent! My grandparents made this journey on cycles in 1946. So a 360 mile round trip in four days of cycling. I'll need to get fit! But my grandparents did the journey up in two twelve hour rides. Hopefully I can do it in two days but rather less than twelve hour sessions! Coming down requires less work as you loose 3000 metres! The Eroica would be a breeze in comparison!

For sure, I'll stop long enough to take some photos, even if it slows the average speed. No one fails to capture such scenery! At Skurdalsvaten my familly own the fishing rights on one the most beautiful and high of any Norwegian lakes. I first went there in 1963 as an eighteen month old, and it is my favourite place on the Earth.

ATB from George

Skurdalsvaten, in September 2002 at six in the morning at freezing point:

Yesterday, I fitted a pristine Campagnolo "68 SS" Nuovo Record/Gran Sport [? - same specification, and the difference is only a question of the year of making] 114.5 mm axle  - amazing gun metal blue'd spindle ... stunning looking work that is completely invisible when fitted - bottom bracket, and this was the last bearing set to upgrade to the first quality remaining to do. As you might expect for vintage parts from this maker, to set up for free working and no visible off-line movement, took minutes only. I expect that some bedding in will be needed for a final adjustment, but perhaps not. The headset of similar vintage was set  up on first fitting and kept adjustment for more than half a year. Like the headset, the quality of making and fundamentally sorted design are apparent in the very simplicity of the parts. Less is definitely more in such components.

So here is a small selection of photographs showing the stations along the way from a worn out classic to something that is even more lovely but completely personal in arrangement.

One to four - Firstly as originally issued by Carlton in the mid-eighties, then with a modern flat bar, later with the steel North Road bar after the frame re-enamel, and as she looks today with a lightweight aluminium moustache bar. Over a period of more than two and a half years. 

ATB from George

PS: It a grand experience to run in what is effectively a "new" classic cycle as it might have been made as a bespoke machine from the tale end of the great hand made English tradition of cycle making. That itself is a wonderful experience. I could never have afforded to do this at the time! But with huge patience, it has proven possible all these years later! Running in the Brooks B17 is interesting as reports that this is a painful act are misplaced in my experience. the saddle is going from comfortable to supremely comfortable rather quickly.

Probably my second most significant project after learning to play the double bass ...

The amazing quality of work in a vintage Bottom Bracket set:

Dear Mick,

I have worked out the total cost [excluding time of course!] as amounting to £480 over more than two years and including the wheels.

Of course I could have bought a new cycle for this amount, but it would be a reasonable mid-quality machine and have nothing like the character and gentle niceness of the Carlton. in fairness I would expect considerably more durability from the Carlton than any new bike of about £500 as well. Modern gear systems may be easy to use, but once they wear they become less reliable and precise, and repairs often means replacing many components ...

I will concede that the cycle is too large, but not so much too large to be difficult. I can stand over it - just!

I have found - though I had never attempted it before using the Elswick since the Spring, where putting a foot down from the saddle is a natural thing to do - that I can also reach the floor from the saddle. The long reach of what is a longer than normal [in modern terms] frame has been counter-acted by the shorter reach of the moustache type handle-bar, so that the machine has the shock-absorbing advantages of a bigger frame, which being easily manageable for a fairly short person. 

Nobody else has yet shown that they can manage it, however. Mostly the problem is the non-indexed gearing. Using these is very difficult to learn for those used to the modern indexed style of gear shifting! Literally a gear "crash" course!

ATB from George

Finally the insurance is settled. The claim against the driver's motor insurance company was met with a reduced counter-offer, if one that is still useful. As this has been going on for eight months, and the offer actually meats the costs I have sustained as a result, I asked my solicitor to accept the counter-offer. I was never interested in any financial gain from the whole wretched business. Just fair play.

However, the driver is facing a prosecution for driving without due care and attention after a review of the evidence. I wish the man no ill after this length of time, and if he had not been so difficult at the crash scene then in spite of some painful injuries [much worse next day] I would have shrugged my shoulders at the time and not involved the Police. That bit of bravado on his part may yet cost him more than higher motor insurance premiums in terms of this prosecution.

Sometimes a little conciliation can go a long way.

But at least this ghastly chapter will now be closed within a month.

Next week I am off on my first proper weekend of cycle touring on the rebuilt old bike with a friend and visiting others! There may even be a few photographs here, as a final Five One cadence on this thread.

ATB from George 

Off topic but funny is this photo taken by a good friend of me firing up my pipe amongst the chaos on Wednesday!

ATB from George

George,

That picture would of made a good advert for McCann Erickson in the 70's.

Stu.

George,

Good to hear that the insurance is now sorted - these things can overshadow one's life even if not at the forefront of the mind. Best of luck with the continuing house renovations - you cut a perfect image there of a typical British workman!

Peter

Dear Peter,

That is why I took the first counter offer rather than carry on grinding away at it. I had had enough of lunchtime phone calls and running round organising things. Waste of effort unless a person actually enjoy such things. I am all for the quiet life with things like this!

ATB from George

George,

Absolutely. Life is just too short, and sometimes it is necessary to lose a battle as it were in order to win the war. No doubt whatsoever that you've done the right thing.

Peter

My aim was to be none the worse off financially from it, and my assessment of the injuries was not the issue, but only the financial aspect, which I rode through by extreme ecomony of spending. My total gas and electric bills for the last quarter amounted to less than £60. It is possible, and so the cycle regained good wheels [and the final touches] in front of the settlement. 

I knew what I needed to be all equal and where I was at the bank the day of the crash, and the offer met this, so that was my view of sufficient to the cause. But I understand why the schedule assembled by my solicitor was higher! Inevitably the counter offer would be scaled back!

ATB from George

George,

All that matters at the end of the day is that you are satisfied with the settlement. It is possible that your solicitor could have obtained more, but that would have prolonged the issue and involved extra hassle for you. There are more important things in life than money. We all need to earn a living of course, but beyond that in my experience it is never worth spending any time doing something that you dislike purely for financial gain. Time and happiness are a lot more precious than a few extra quid in the bank.

Peter

Dear Peter,

What is nice about the old cycle is that it rides as silent and smooth as a wraith, can go like the clappers of hell, and is as gentle as a lamb at slow speeds. I was physically fit before, but the cycle challenges me! It is easy to manage previously un-imagined things so that the one in four gradient previuosly mentioned was this evening not merly achieved as possible [42 over 21 cogs], but I was still coherent at the end.

Without loosing weight, I would bet that I am the only Forum member to be the same waist size at nearly fifty as at twenty-one years old -  twenty eight inches!

This great cycle is such a challenge that I cannot be complacent ...

ATB from George

Oh dear, I could be in trouble here. Wait for me!

George,

You put me to shame! I will be 51 this year, and my waist size has gradually increased to 36" over the years. What is strange is that I was always very skinny in my teens and twenties - I could really have done with putting on a bit of weight then. I am not a big eater at all, so it's a bit of a mystery to me. My doctor has said that it is due to "too good living" as he put it, and encouraged me to join him in the gymn every night at 10.00pm. This I couldn't manage! I need to get more exercise though for sure, as I fear I'm rapidly reaching the "point of no return", from where the only way to go will be steeply downhill! 

Peter

I promise that we will not be racing! I don't like to compete with anyone but myself in respect of physical activities! But for sure I am enjoying the cycle as I never have any bike gefore. I knew it was lovely even when it had a seized up rear derailleur, and thus had only two usable gears on the front chain rings!

I gradually got the original running gear working properly, but when the back axle broke, I suppose the idea of completely rebuilding the old girl germinated. It might be a DIY project, but sometimes these yield the greatest pleasures of all!

Looking forward to sharing two lovely Carltons on flatter roads than we have round here!

ATB from George.

PS: Dear Peter,

As a youngster I was painfully thin, and yet I used to eat like a horse. Now I am not quite so thin, and cab still eat what I like without any particular effect - except last October when I spent a fortnight in Poland eating loads, drinking a certain amount of beer, and walking miles. I did put some weight on then, but after a month I was back to normal!

My work is often quite hard physical work though, which probably helps.