Re: [CR]Carlton Catalina Derailleurs

(Example: Framebuilding:Paint)

From: <"kohl57@starpower.net">
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 11:18:02 -0400
Subject: Re: [CR]Carlton Catalina Derailleurs


Happily the Bulgier site has an excellent collection of Carlton catalogues

from the 1960s. It's only confusingly located under "retroraleighs":

http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Retro-Raleighs/

Full specs for all machines.

Frame material: if it doesn't specify Reynolds 531, it's 2030 steel or whatever they used.

It's useful to remember about Carlton and part of their ethos that they were a clubman's company. They didn't make roadsters or trade bikes. T hey just made club and racing bikes. And they catered to all wallets within this category, including the very important "schoolboy" and "young racing aspirant" with excellently spec'd and built club and racing bikes that wer e nevertheless not made of Reynolds. No other big British company had so m any different models in this category. So most Carltons are 2030 steel and similar even if they look sexy and are spec'd with all those cool British and Continental components of the period. Very much like the short-lived

Raleigh "lightweights" c. 1962-66 like the Gran Sport, Blue Streak etc.

Since these came out just when Raleigh bought Carlton and although made in

Nottingham, I have a hunch they were really variations on Carltons anyway.

The market for such machines was limited in the USA as this was pre-bike boom and I am not sure how many "young racing aspirants" we had when the Stingray was "neat" and boys like me were happy with their Raleigh Sports!

Peter Kohler Washington DC USA

--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/ .