Another Carlton Super Python..!
 

Howdy folks,

This one I couldn't resist but my shopping spree is certainly done! I've managed to sell as many frames and bikes as I've bought this year, but a few more need to go before I add any new builds to the bench.

I first saw this frame built up with a Sturmey-Archer IGH for sale on eBay UK in June 2018. I could not afford it then and the seller was not offering shipping to the United States. I saved a photo of it and was very inspired... It came up for sale as a frameset a couple of weeks ago and I noticed it late at night here a few hours after it was posted and it already had twenty watchers. I went to sleep fighting temptation, woke up and saw that it hadn't sold and clicked "buy-it-now" before my coffee was done brewing.

Based on the serial # it dates between 1951-52 and the frame was rather recently restored but lacks a clear coat, has the wrong 531 tubing decal, and the double box lining is much too thin compared to a number of Carltons of this vintage I have owned or examined. The paint is pretty rough in a few places but the fresh chrome still gleams. So, it's ripe for a new paint job!

For now, it's getting stashed away to complete a pile of four frames that I plan to restore, which all happen to have identical measurements - 24.5" seat tubes (c-t) and 23" top tubes (c-c). My other Super Python has the same.

-Gregory

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7b08b07f17.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c1856f4e37.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a6e32f8666.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...632e377b2b.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7b3a193183.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0469f0ee6e.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...64a84e46a8.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4b4caa7649.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ae9f8fa8e.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...08173f73d3.jpg

"Usual brazed on bits."

love it.

Love the oil port!

Now that's a seat tube decal!

Cool frame... I hope it gets built up!

Steve in Peoria (and a fan of the 1970's 24 1/2" Raleigh/Carltons)

Great looking frame details! I’d love to find one of these someday. I agree with you about the paint, this isn’t too terrible but I’ll bet you can do better. Glad to see I’m not the only one who’ll buy two of the same Carltons. I recently bought two 60s flyers, a 64 and a 67, like yours, one is a complete bike the other just a frame. I’ll need to do a thread for them sometime. Have you found a head badge yet? I’d think that would be a tough find but not as unlikely as finding two Super Pythons.

Quite a few Carltons from before the mid-50s were supplied without head badges. This top-of-the-line Flyer in original paint from around 1948 doesn't even have one!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2e55b1e14c.jpg

I’ve noticed that before too. I guess I just assumed it would’ve had a badge because I seem to remember your other SP having one. Maybe I’m mistaken.

The other one does have one, but it's 2-3 years newer than this frame. The transition to most models having head badges seems to have been in the mid-50s. All of the older frames except top models like the Flyer and Continental appear to have lacked head badges in most cases into the early '50s, based on a couple of dozen frames I've seen. Here are three more Super Pythons of this generation that apparently all lacked head badges.

I was very tempted to purchase all three of these frames as they appeared on eBay over the last couple of years as they were all 23" frames and I was pretty doubtful that I'd ever see such a large one come up again. I'm glad I held out!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ffb5bb4159.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9af9bc5b48.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b89ccd8a4.jpg

Is that green one designed to work in both left-side and right-side drive markets? I have never seen headlamp bosses on both sides of the fork before. Useful for visits to the continent? :)

There should be no upper limit on Carlton's.

I've seen numerous frames with twin mounts and at least one period photograph of someone using dual headlights. I think it's mostly useful for seeing things in the dark, period.

Virtually all of these Carlton frames, as with most high-end British frames of the period, were ordered to individual customer specifications. If you see two mounts it means a specific someone wanted two mounts for their own purposes.

-Gregory