Carlton Road Bike- Opinions
 

hey--

i'm looking at this bike on C-list: http://blacksburg.craigslist.org/bik/1499903904.html

I contacted the seller, and it's supposed to be in good condition/working order.

I'd be using it for a commuter bike/probably a couple local CX races, once or twice a year. maybe turning into my tourer for this summer, but i'd have to see the long distance ride quality first.

so what's this brand like? I looked it up, and it was apparently owned by Raleigh for a while...and known for good lug work. but other than that, what's the quality/weight (compared to say...Scwhinn, Nishiki, etc.) of the frame? Components can be swapped, but i'm hoping for a fairly nice frame without spending way too much.

and, just to play nicely, if this is some randomly amazing buy, please don't try to buy it out from under me, I know I sort of run the risk of that posting the ad for it.

Sounds good to me! :)

It's the usual crappy pic which is the norm for Craigslist. Better go take look at it quick, to see if there's any damage. I have an old 1974 Raleigh cantilever brake touring frame that was built in their Carelton factory and it rides so smooth. Check to see where the serial number is located on the frame. If it's on the underside of the bottom bracket, it's a Reynolds frame. Get it.

My 2 cents. Maybe it is the bad CL picture, but to me that does not look anything like a Carlton/Raleigh manufactured frame. It appears to have down tube braze on sunTour top shifter, the fork and headset do not look like Carlton/Raleigh. With all due respect to the above post, I don't ever remember Carlton manufacturing a road frame with cantilever braze ons. Looks like a Japanese made bike to me. Let's see what others have to say.

Hi nahh. i saw that same listing a couple days ago. the lack of detail and crappy photo put me off (it'd be an hour drive for me to go up there and look in person, need more bait to make that sort of drive). you're in town with it, you might as well give it a look.

and in usual c&v fashion, try and talk them down a bit.

I was going to try to talk them down to $70-$80, provided it's in good condition like the seller says.

I'm not so sure about the frame either, but you can't tell much from that picture. I'm just going to go check it out and see. I really don't need more bikes, but this is sort of a bike I don't have (cyclocross-ish)

@20grit: If I end up not wanting it and it's still in good condition (that's pretty much if it ends up not fitting) i'll send you a PM to let you know!

Carlton made some nice bikes, like the Raliegh Supercourse and International. If it's from that factory, it's certainly worth a look.
Get us some better pictures.

Even though it may not really be a Carlton, if it is in decent shape and has alloy rims, it is well worth the asking price.

i'm meeting with the seller on Tuesday, but unfortunately after dark. i'll have to bring a light to be able to test ride it...that's a little bit annoying, but I guess it is winter.

we'll see how it goes, i'll try to post back pics if I do get it!

UPDATE: The bike was terrible. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Carlton frame, it was just stenciled in the side of the frame.

I couldn't find the co-op place that was selling it, and finally had to call somebody and ask where it was. When I got there, it was a sketchy basement bike shop, with way too many bikes to have been all donated.

The tires were almost completely dry-rotted, although the bike was billed as "ride ready", the frame has an incredible amount of rust on it. it looked like it was a black bike spray painted white.

so all in all, i just wasted an hour or so, although thankfully no more money than the gas it took to get there.

Yeah.... that's what i was worried about when i looked.

Too bad you wasted your time, but if someone is trying to sell a bike with DT shifters as a "cyclocross bike", there is a huge red flag that should scream avoid at all costs

..why? I've seen plenty of CX bikes with downtube shifters, barcons, and SS/FGs. CX bikes vary way more than road bikes, and almost as much as mountain bikes.

As the ad says: "Cyclocross is basically a beefy roadbike with V-brakes & knobby tires." :)

Now if the Carlton Cyclocross bike turned out to be this one it would have been a different story, right?