I work for a town, so the dumpster that all the random stuff that gets found on roads ends up at my work, including a handful of bicycles throughout the year. Usually it’s just beat up Walmart mountain bikes, but I saw this old bike sticking out one day and snagged it. Just was a frame, fork, stem, seat post and crank. Wish I took a before picture, the difference between the frame before and now is night and day, years of crud on it like it was sitting in the woods or something, though surprisingly not really rusty.
It’s a Reynolds 531 frame built in the Raleigh factory. Got some parts, the rear derailleur, seat post, and brake levers (that I sandblasted back to bare aluminum) off another dumpster bike that was otherwise junk. Every part is stuff I had lying around or from the local bike co-op. The zip tie cable guides will be replaced someday when I get some nice chrome ones.
Only real problem is the seat post, the one on the frame when I found it was incredibly seized. When I got it out I measured it and I’m 99% sure it was 1 inch. The one that’s in there now is 1 inch but will not stay tight, but even trying to make a shim out of a can it was then too thick. I think when getting the old seat post out I possibly tweaked the seat clamp so now it’s not clamping right. I’ll have to figure that out, but otherwise it rides great.
mikefitzvw on
Hold up! I read your comment; if it’s Reynolds 531, then it won’t be 25.4mm. It’ll likely be 26.4mm (straight-gauge) or 27.2mm (double-butted). It depends on the tubing you have, but definitely don’t try to pinch it down to 25.4mm or it’ll get damaged.
Aside from that though, looks like a beautiful bike. If you feel like a bit of historically-correct torture, you should find a Huret Allvit and enjoy the true experience of shifting an old Carlton 🙂
jsp612 on
If you want a lot of good information regarding Carltons, look to facebook. There’s a group called “Carlton Cycles of Worksop”. There are people who used to work at the Carlton manufacturing plant in the group. If people in that group don’t know Carltons, no one does.
3 Comments
I work for a town, so the dumpster that all the random stuff that gets found on roads ends up at my work, including a handful of bicycles throughout the year. Usually it’s just beat up Walmart mountain bikes, but I saw this old bike sticking out one day and snagged it. Just was a frame, fork, stem, seat post and crank. Wish I took a before picture, the difference between the frame before and now is night and day, years of crud on it like it was sitting in the woods or something, though surprisingly not really rusty.
It’s a Reynolds 531 frame built in the Raleigh factory. Got some parts, the rear derailleur, seat post, and brake levers (that I sandblasted back to bare aluminum) off another dumpster bike that was otherwise junk. Every part is stuff I had lying around or from the local bike co-op. The zip tie cable guides will be replaced someday when I get some nice chrome ones.
Only real problem is the seat post, the one on the frame when I found it was incredibly seized. When I got it out I measured it and I’m 99% sure it was 1 inch. The one that’s in there now is 1 inch but will not stay tight, but even trying to make a shim out of a can it was then too thick. I think when getting the old seat post out I possibly tweaked the seat clamp so now it’s not clamping right. I’ll have to figure that out, but otherwise it rides great.
Hold up! I read your comment; if it’s Reynolds 531, then it won’t be 25.4mm. It’ll likely be 26.4mm (straight-gauge) or 27.2mm (double-butted). It depends on the tubing you have, but definitely don’t try to pinch it down to 25.4mm or it’ll get damaged.
Aside from that though, looks like a beautiful bike. If you feel like a bit of historically-correct torture, you should find a Huret Allvit and enjoy the true experience of shifting an old Carlton 🙂
If you want a lot of good information regarding Carltons, look to facebook. There’s a group called “Carlton Cycles of Worksop”. There are people who used to work at the Carlton manufacturing plant in the group. If people in that group don’t know Carltons, no one does.