A while ago I saved this bike from being dumped by my father in law who was clearing out his garage ahead of moving house. I had every intention of fixing it but never got round to it. With a new bike coming soon I’m making room so going to move it on but it’s a case of identifying what it is to then do the best thing with it.
From the badging it’s a Carlton but after that I’m not sure, suspect it’s 1970s era but not sure.
Thanks!!
by bransoj
6 Comments
anything stamped on the underside of the BB?
Williams C34 chainring and cranks- fabulous!
THe OG 1X.
And then God said, “Let there be front deraillers and granny gears!
And make them from alloy and do away with those silly cotter pins.”
And the people were pleased, as they could finally climb steep hills with reasonable effort.
[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/fe/2a/a0fe2a87e85fde6604a23b7889f44adb.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/fe/2a/a0fe2a87e85fde6604a23b7889f44adb.jpg)
You might enjoy looking at [http://carltoncycles.uk/](http://carltoncycles.uk/) . It’s more of a fan website than anything official.
Carlton closed down in 1980, so it’s 70s or earlier.
Any request for ID-ing or dating a bike/frame should at least be accompanied by a frame number including location and orientation thereof, in addition to more close-up photos with key details such as lugs, BB shell, dropouts and key components. (E.g. date code stamped in the Willams chainset might help, too.)
That being said, bike looks like an early 60s Constellation (1962 perhaps), chromed forks may not be original, though, frame number on fork steerer could also be checked for fork originality.
These “Capella” lugs were only used by the Carlton facility in Worksop. Not sure exactly when they first got them, but they had them back into the 50’s. In about 1973-74-ish they started using them a lot, maybe to clear them all out, but that’s speculation. They showed up on the Raleighs being built in Worksop during this period. I can’t say for sure when this bike was made, but it does look like it might have come from that time period, so if you look at the catalogs from then you might find the model.