Bike Project: Vintage Carlton Racer

[nibnob21]

Thought I'd start a little project thread for my bike.

Bought it on eBay at the start of Nov '13 to use as a commuter. It's a 1970s Carlton 10 speed road bike. Carlton were merged with Raleigh in the 60s, so it's effectively a Raleigh with Carlton branding.

Previous owner had it stripped down and powdercoated so it's in great condition.

A few pics from the ad:












First thing I did was round off one of the cable pinch bolts trying to sort out the annoying side pull caliper brakes...so got a new one and managed to get the brakes adjusted nicely.




Then had a spate of bad luck with punctures. So got two new inner tubes and two new tyres to replace the tiring, cracked old ones. Been nothing but reliable since

Few more updates to come.

[Lee]

Think Taurus may enjoy this.

[nibnob21]

Think Taurus may enjoy this.

Bit new for him.

[nibnob21]

Got some new pedals at Christmas. Old ones were big horrible heavy things. Got some of these to clip into:

Wiggle | Shimano PD-R540 SPD SL Sport Pedals | Clip-In Pedals


Got the white ones to match the bike. Also got a decent set of lights for the morning commute.

[nibnob21]

Brakes have never been sitting right, so this weekend just gone I thought I'd take them all apart to try and get them working better.

Thought I'd take off the secondary brake levers you can see in some of the pics above as I never used them:




Then removed, cleaned and refitted the front and rear calipers to get the brakes working better:




It has definitely helped but they're still not the best.

[nibnob21]

Goodies




New aero brake levers. They channel the brake cables out the back and along the handle bars as opposed to out the top like the old ones. More streamlined and better path for the brake cables.




New old stock brake calipers. Nice and shiny






And finally some new wheels Took the opportunity to get quick release. Old wheels are pretty buckled and the bearings on the front wheel are completely kaput.






Just need to get a few little things like brake pads, new cables and rim tape from the local bike shop then I'll get everything fitted. Hopefully this weekend.

[Lee]

Are these new parts you're buying, or good condition old parts?

[nibnob21]

Are these new parts you're buying, or good condition old parts?

[Hardcore]

I've an old original Chopper i wanted to do this with but it's a bit too far gone now for me to want to restore it.

Please don't turn into a hipster now you have a retro bicycle.

[nibnob21]

If I was a hipster I would have got a fixed gear.

[Rob]

change the brake blocks mate. my old bmx's had zero brakes till i changed them

[Taurus]

Those Weinmann 730s always were crap - red blocks used to be a bit better but they never worked as well as a decent set of centre pulls. Something like these would be in keeping and work much better Mafac Competition brakes with hangers and rear cable stop used | eBay (Just missing the front hanger)

I remember when those secondary levers came out - bloody horrible things to look at and they didn't work very well. I never used them but all my mates bought them.

Looks like a decent 531 frame - the markers ought to say if it's double butted or not.

[nibnob21]

Yeah the 730s aren't great, hoping these better condition ones will help. Just popping to the bike shop now to get a few bits including new brake blocks. The current ones I have are utterly useless.

And those secondary levers, as you say, are useless. They really don't stop you at all.

It has a sticker saying it has butted tubes, forks and stays.

[Taurus]

Butted everything is good.

The only downside is butted forks can be a bit fragile as I discovered the hard way. Spectacular, but hard.

[nibnob21]

Haha oh dear. Well I don't really go dirt jumping so I'm hoping they'll hold up! Mainly just use it for a 4.5 mile ride each way to work, then the occasional weekend bike ride.

Few bits from the store. Rim tape, brake blocks, cable end covers, ferrules and brake adjuster: