1976 Carlton Corsa Resto-Mod

[iamrcb]

In terms of bike maintenance, having never done anything more than changing an innertube when I was 14, so I decided to get an old road bike and do it up in a style I had in my head. This was a clean brushed steel finish (no paint), complete with whatever age related marks it had, brown saddle and tape.

I acquired a rusty 1976 Carlton Corsa for nothing; it hadn't moved for 20 years. I stripped it down to nuts and bolts, ground, cleaned and polished all the parts, bought new wheels and a saddle, stripped the frame, clear powdercoated (for protection) and re-built it.

It was a lot of work. I'm really pleased with the result and I've learned an awful lot. Just some setting up work to do now before a test ride.

Here are the before and after photos. I took almost 300 during the works, mainly so that I had some reference points when putting it back together. I know it was/is a basic spec bike, but it was well worth the effort just for the lessons learned. I also tried to finish it for as little money as possible.

Before and After Summary: 1976 Carlton Corsa "Proj:RetroBike
https://plus.google.com/photos/115144812460991199758/albums/5797766957441186577

The Full Works:
https://plus.google.com/photos/115144812460991199758/albums/5783325535884216753

Here's just a few from the album link above

 

[Midlife]

Nice to see something brought back to life very nice. I keep all my clear chinese take away boxes too LOL

How much handlebar stem have you left in the frame ?

Shaun

 

[Spokesmann]

Nice to see, the bike had clearly had a hard life.

Id get a few down tube Carlton decals on there too!

 

[Piperdave]

Very nice cable outers, where did they come from?

Very good job overall.

Dave

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Very well done indeed. Perhaps the chain is a link or two long?

 

[iamrcb]

Very nice cable outers, where did they come from?

Very good job overall.

Dave

eBay, very cheap

So cheap that I bought three colours, just to see which one looked the best. I chose the bronze-ish braided cable style.

 

[iamrcb]

Very well done indeed. Perhaps the chain is a link or two long?

Thanks. A bit of set up and adjustment still to do

 

[iamrcb]

Nice to see, the bike had clearly had a hard life.

Id get a few down tube Carlton decals on there too!

Too many logos on everything in cycling!

I bought a set of stickers from eBay for about £7. I've got another 3 small Carlton badges and a larger badge sticker left. I think I'm going to leave it as it is

 

[iamrcb]

To ensure that I was able to use this bike more often I fitted some new bars, brakes and grips. I had to grind down some of the parts as they didn't fit in with the rest of the bare/brushed steel look.

Its become my most often used bike since the change and I'm really happy with how it rides

 

[iamrcb]

some more