first build - Carlton Corsa frame

Hi there,
I'm relatively new to bike building and would like to pick your collective brains on this current project of mine. The plan is to make an elegant but cheap single speed using an old Carlton Corsa (pics to follow, the frame is in the shop having the quill stem ground out). However, there are some aspects of the rebuild I'm not sure about.
Firstly, should I switch from 27" to 700 wheels to widen my choice? I think the Weinmann caliper brakes that came with the frame will cope with the 4mm adjustment (I can test this with some 700s I have). But are there any other issues with switching wheel size? Also, any advice on where to source new or used wheels with high-flange hubs?

Personally i would convert to 700, if the weinmann's don't reach theres plenty of decent long reach callipers that wont set you back a lot. as for sourcing wheels, have you tried here?

you could just build up your own wheels, get some old high flange hubs and nos 27" rims, it could look quite tidy. if you put 700c wheels in there it might not fill the frame out as well and could look off. might not though. will certainly change the character of the bike at least

if you like the older era look carltons are a good choice

Hey! I actually am riding a 1969(ish) Carlton Corsa as my fixed-gear city bike.

In my opinion, it will look less "odd" with the 27 inch wheels as there's quite a lot of clearance on the frame. I tried both sizes and found that the rear callipers (which are Weinmann's really long reach ones) are also marginally too short to take a 700c wheel; from my experience of owning a few Carltons, the brake bridges tend to be pretty high on their models fitted with centre-pulls, so you'll need longer brakes. Yes, you can get a longer centre-pull brake than the Weinmann 999s on your bike from Dia-Compe, but it'll set you back more than buying a frame designed for 700c wheels.

As it's a cheap beater for me, I bought some reasonable, albeit unbranded, high flange hub, fixed gear alloy 27" wheels from Amazon (Yes, that Amazon). Set me back about £100 if I recall, which isn't super cheap, but the wheels seem pretty good after a year of city riding, and new 27 inch fixed gear wheels are like hen's teeth. More importantly, they are in keeping with the rest of the bike in terms of style.

If you're not planning on riding fixed, 27 inch wheels with "normal" hubs (i.e. no lockring) are common as muck, and cheap too. Tyre choice is a little lacking but still reasonable.
For reference, here is a picture of the wheels on the bike when I first got it, before it got rebuilt into something that isn't a total eyesore.

Final advice from me- if it hasn't been done already, changing the bottom bracket and cranks to ones without cotter pins dramatically improves the enjoyment you will have of riding.

Nice build. They look quite nice with the gears too...