Craigmount
Old School Hero
Greetings to all.
I’d been looking around for a suitable Retro bike to rebuild and use:- preferably a smallish Touring frame, with Reynolds 531, 27” wheels, and Suntour groupset. Given my limited knowledge, I was mainly focusing on the models I know e.g. Dawes Galaxy, Raleigh Royal, Carlton Corsair, etc.
It’s amazing when you know what you’re looking for, how they never turn up!!
Anyway summer’s marching on … and I finally plumped for a Raleigh Royal 21” frame, basically because it ticked all the above boxes. It’s an oak green model, frame WK2001700 which equates to July 1982. Unfortunately it had been robbed of most although not all of its parts, see pics, however at least I had the frame (a bit scratched and scraped, with its original paint & decals, and not particularly rusty).
A few weeks later I got lucky. A barn-find Carlton Courette became available, Reynolds 531, rusty frame, and a Touring model to boot, from the same stable as the Raleigh, and almost identical spec. Frame number is WM0006943, Sept 1980, so within 2 years of the Raleigh. Why not combine the two? Make one from two? See pics.
It has the alloy 27inch wheels with quick-release, full Suntour groupset, and correct Weinmann centre-pull brakes with GT levers (suicide levers!). I know there are mixed thoughts on these Touring levers, however at my age and level of activity I find them a plus, provided they’re applied sensibly and at low speed.
The plan is to strip both bikes down to the last ball-bearing. I completed my first ground-up refurbishment last year, a 1950’s Raleigh Super Lenton - would be interesting to compare the experience with a 1980’s project.
Anyway that’s a brief intro … now the proper work begins!!
P.S. I’ve browsed the Raleigh catalogues online and attach a scan of the Carlton. Does anyone in Retrobike know if any of the 1982 Raleigh catalogues ever featured the Raleigh Royal? Can’t seem to find this anywhere online. :?
Thanks!
I’d been looking around for a suitable Retro bike to rebuild and use:- preferably a smallish Touring frame, with Reynolds 531, 27” wheels, and Suntour groupset. Given my limited knowledge, I was mainly focusing on the models I know e.g. Dawes Galaxy, Raleigh Royal, Carlton Corsair, etc.
It’s amazing when you know what you’re looking for, how they never turn up!!
Anyway summer’s marching on … and I finally plumped for a Raleigh Royal 21” frame, basically because it ticked all the above boxes. It’s an oak green model, frame WK2001700 which equates to July 1982. Unfortunately it had been robbed of most although not all of its parts, see pics, however at least I had the frame (a bit scratched and scraped, with its original paint & decals, and not particularly rusty).
A few weeks later I got lucky. A barn-find Carlton Courette became available, Reynolds 531, rusty frame, and a Touring model to boot, from the same stable as the Raleigh, and almost identical spec. Frame number is WM0006943, Sept 1980, so within 2 years of the Raleigh. Why not combine the two? Make one from two? See pics.
It has the alloy 27inch wheels with quick-release, full Suntour groupset, and correct Weinmann centre-pull brakes with GT levers (suicide levers!). I know there are mixed thoughts on these Touring levers, however at my age and level of activity I find them a plus, provided they’re applied sensibly and at low speed.
The plan is to strip both bikes down to the last ball-bearing. I completed my first ground-up refurbishment last year, a 1950’s Raleigh Super Lenton - would be interesting to compare the experience with a 1980’s project.
Anyway that’s a brief intro … now the proper work begins!!
P.S. I’ve browsed the Raleigh catalogues online and attach a scan of the Carlton. Does anyone in Retrobike know if any of the 1982 Raleigh catalogues ever featured the Raleigh Royal? Can’t seem to find this anywhere online. :?
Thanks!
