At the super young age of 42 I’ve decided to start cycling again. I also appreciate all things classic so I’ve started with two classic bikes. A 1983 Peugeot mirage and an older Carlton - the Carlton however is my problem child. I can’t find any history around this model Carlton - it is a Raleigh era Carlton called a Cresta. Has anyone ever heard of such a Carlton and can you possibly tell me what it’s approximate age is. I would like to fully restore both bikes - riding one while the other is being restored. I’m a new member and have really enjoyed reading some of the threads here. Thank you Mike

Welcome, Mike!

Never heard of a Carlton Cresta. I do know there were Carltons that came with Cresta bars.

However, if you were to post some pictures of said bike, I'm sure we can figure out model and age. (Go to the "advanced" editing mode and upload - make sure the picture files are smaller than 1MB)

beat me to it on all counts. Some Carlton Flyers had cresta bars but that was pre raleigh i think.

pics please.

Welcome to zee forum.

Just the other day, there was a post in the massive love for three speed english bikes threads about the Sun Cresta which was made by the Sun Cycle of Birmingham. See this page For the love of English 3 speeds...

Stunning bicycle.

I've never heard of Sun Cycle of Birmingham nor of the Cresta. Internets indicates that Sun (also motorcycle maker) was taken over by Tube Investments in 1958 and that the factory was closed in 1961

edit: more looking indicates that Raleigh/TI may have been selling Sun bikes (Cresta appears to have been a model) as late as 1986.

know nothing about your bike but welcome to riding man. 61 here and i love old bikes. a day not riding sucks, which is why i commute on my bikes.

Ok so now I'm showing my level of computer skill - how can I share some of these pictures with you guys, It keeps asking for the URL of the pictures - all I know is that they are saved on my laptop. LOL

Thanks for the reply and encouragement.

Thank you for the reply - how do I share some pics of the bike as I don’t know where to find the URL for the pictures saved on my PC

Put them on a photo account like flickr.com

Thank you will do

Punch out of few web searches (ex: Carlton sun cycles workshop) and you'll find that TI acquired the Sun Cycles name along with other brand names prior to acquiring Raleigh. It appears that, after acquiring Raleigh, they moved Sun to the Carlton Worksop location and Sun's were produced there into the early '80's. A Carlton made Sun Cresta may not be unusual in the UK. I'll bet few were sold in the US.

BTW just in case you don't know - Worksop is a small town just outside Nottingham, where Raleigh was HQ'd. That is the right spelling vs "Workshop". Carlton's plant was located there for many years during its TI Raleigh era.

Worksop is actually 35 miles from Nottingham, so not just outside !

Worksop is nearer Sheffield than Nottingham.

Take a look at this rather than speculating, and you'll read Carlton Cycles was founded in the late 19th century - yes, that's right

Carlton cycles

John.

N.B Worksop closed in 1981.

I guess it all depends on the scale you're used to. If this were a Chinese forum, Worksop would have been "just north of London".

Context is the UK, and Worksop is still nearer Sheffield.

John.

I stand corrected. Shoulda checked. Thank you.

Hey, at least it's in Nottinghamshire.

Hi Guys,

Again thank you for the usefull info, I have searched on line and found a few pictures of a Sun Cresta which does not look too different my bike with Carlton Cresta labelling. I will post some pics as soon as I've passed the ten post mark and the system permits me to.

Thank you all again.

My brother used to have a Carlton racing bike many years ago, lovely bike. They also made I believe the first carbon bike in 1969.

Nostalgia made me go searching for a catalogue to view.

https://veterancycleclublibrary.org.u...20Library).pdf

What a fantastic catalogue to read through

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regarding the Sun marque in association with Carlton, found this price list covering both badges in one document dated 1966 -


https://veterancycleclublibrary.org.u...20Library).pdf

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Around the time Carlton became part of the Raleigh company, they made their own lugs. The Carlton-made lugs had names, and were used on bike frames with the same names. A famous example is the Capella, originally a Carlton model in the early 60's, but familiar to more forum members because many years later they decided to use up the old stock on Raleigh International and Super Course frames.

I vaguely remember that Cresta was another of these lug designs. Or am I thinking of Crespera or something? At any rate, the lugs I'm thinking of were originally used on a Carlton frame, and later became characteristic of the Raleigh Grand Prix.

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The name Capella for a lug pattern has been a source of confusion for me.

We all know it as the set with long points and lots of holes.

When one gets back into the '60's there was a "Capella" lug found on some Grand Prix which was much simpler.

Do any of the TI experts know what this is?

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