She wants to ride l'Eroica

The Mrs has indicated she would like to ride l'Eroica (well at least she's guaranteed an entry) so she needs a retro ride.

More specifically she wants something she can 'get out of' quickly if it goes to custard on the strade bianche.

Fortunately, an elderly neighbour said she might have something so popped round for a look see and found this - a Carlton Courette, mixte circa '79 - '83.

I'm hoping it will do the business for her. It's the right size, which is a good start and everything on it seems to work OK - even the wheels run true. But the paint is a little tatty with large areas of surface rust. Of course there's the issue of 'patina' to consider, but because it's for a girl, such things are irrelevant. It must look the mustard, so off to Argos it has gone for a new look in something called 'burnt cream' with World Champs rings mimicking the head badge on the seat tube plus new decals.

More pics here:

http://s432.photobucket.com/user/Luigi1936/slideshow/Carlton%20Courette

Everything that came off it has been bagged ready for cleaning, so it should be relatively easy to have this sorted, although there might be some re-chroming required, particularly on the racks which I'd quite like to keep. Additionally, a new saddle and bar tape courtesy of Brooks will bloat the cost a bit.

I hope it turns out OK.

you might want to take the weight down by removing guards and rack, there's a fair bit of climbing involved!

also: replace all the bearings and races (if necessary) in hubs and BB

Thanks benjam,

Hopefully this will be my fourth time in Tuscany, but because the wife is coming we'll be doing the 75km I think. But yes, plenty of climbing still.

Thinking about it a bit more, I will probably fit a new headset and BB. The hubs will get a thorough rebuild. I won't fit racks or mudguards for l'Eroica, but will still get them refurbished for 'around town'.

Frame is stripped and has been sent to Argos in Bristol.

In the meantime I'm going through all the components to see what's what.

Wheels are pretty true but need some tensioning and the bearings serviced

I think the original chainset should be OK too. I've taken the rings off for cleaning and sent the crank arms and spider off to be blasted so I can hopefully polish them up like new. I think there's a thread about this somewhere on here so must have a look at that.

The stem and brake levers will also go through the same process.

great project! looking forward to seeing how it turns out

Took the rings off the chainset and sent it to the shot blasters along with the stem. It comes back a milky white matt colour.

But after just 20 minutes with went'ndry and metal polish it starts to come up real nice. Obviously a bit more elbow grease is required, but I'm not after a mirror finish - it would look a bit odd. Some patina to the metal will be nice I think.

While I'm waiting for the frame to come back, I've been assessing the componentry.

The brakes are Raleigh-branded Weinmann CPs, which I have disassembled and started to clean up. Again, more elbow grease required.

I don't have a fond memories of these and a lot of people slag them off for not being that great in the stopping department. But they're for the wife, so there won't be much to stop (compared to me). Anybody have an experiences or views to share?

I'm quite taken with Dia Compe's modern CNC-machined versions though, which look lovely, but are £50 each. So I think I'll fit the Weinmann's rather than splash the cash unnecessarily.

My gf has them on one of her bikes with koolstop stop salmon pads. They work well

Nice work, my wife has and old roadie i would like to do up (just need time, money, skillz)

My gf has them on one of her bikes with koolstop stop salmon pads. They work well

You mean the Weinmann's or the Dia Compe's, spotter?

The original Takagi triple chainset has come up good too. Again I could borrow or buy a bench mounted grinder/polisher but I'm not too sure I am that arsed about a mirror finish.

I also bought some lovely machined crankbolt covers from www.velobitz.com for just £12. They do some really neat items like leather handlebar covers and bags etc, so I'm sure I'll be ordering something else.

I meant the original Weinmann's, good tip on the dustcaps, i've been after a set for some Mavic starfish.

Frame is back from Argos and it looks cool. Maybe too cool. The Mrs is still sold on this cream and black homage to Coco Chanel, but I'm not too sure. Hopefully once the build starts and the black Brooks and bar tape goes on it will start to come together.

looks great!

looks indeed very nice and she looks chuffed!:)

Love the paint job! Some colorful details might go well with the logo? There's some really funky bartape around but that would probably be pushing it...

edit: just remembered the Cinelli Champion bartape. That is pushing it.

Hopefully this will inspire me to finally build my better half a nice little mixte Gazelle. Her riding l'eroica is more than I can hope for though :)

Frameset is in the LBS being faced for BB and headset.

Fortunately, I was quite OCD about keeping and documenting everything that came off the bike and putting it all into ziploc bags. Thus I have retained all the cable end ferrules and cable adjusters etc.

My only real worry is how the original 27:1/4 wheels are going to clean up. There is a fair amount of oxidisation so time will tell. They're in the LBS having been trued and the bearings checked. The shop's got one of those washer/brush cleaning units so I suspect that this may turn into a job for the apprentice ....

Just finished my wife's bike. I had a courette which acted as a donor, weirdly it had Raleigh branded cranks and mechs on so they went on this. I gave her the choice of frames and she went for 'the black one', so here we are.

I ditched the weinmanns and opted for long drop rx100s and MTB levers. Not the prettiest but they work really well!

Nice looking ride dglshrn!

The Courette is now rolling, but sans stopping gear.

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-02153404.jpg~original

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-02153417.jpg~original

Both the FD and RD have come up really well with Autosol and elbow grease. The wheels still need more work.

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-02153430.jpg~original

Really happy with how the chainset has come up. New BB fitted.

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-02153438.jpg~original

The Simplex shifters have a lovely action, very smooth and precise, but the clamp is a little corroded.

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-02153448.jpg~original

Black Brooks and Shimano 600 seatpost. Sadly the original clamp bolt is bent and knackered so a new one fitted. Plus, I don;t want to carry an adjustable spanner round Tuscany.

The straddle cable on the rear brake is rusted and starting to unravel so new one is required. Problem is that it's longer at 160mm than a standard straddle because it loops round the seat tube. Trawled ebay and the web for a replacement, but nothing doing except for a guy in Portland, Oregon who makes these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261464284456?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&item=261464284456&mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]

In the meantime I took me and my Friday night hangover too a bike jumble on Saturday in Chalfont st Peter for a forage. Bingo! Found a pair of Weinmanns for a fiver with a 160mm straddle cable attached that will do the job. Also found another longer one for a quid as a back up. I picked up some brake levers too so everything is good to go.

Despite the Guinness demons banging their hammers behind my eyeballs, the bike jumble was an absolute hoot. Could have drained my wallet very easily. Some real characters there ....

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/Luigi1936/2014-05-03103611.jpg~original

I was going to say I have some of those long straddle cables you could have but it looks like you're sorted. I do have a set of gold weinmann drop bar levers from a Raleigh sprint. You're welcome to them if you want to pay postage.

Aaaargh, should have asked first. Could have saved me a painful early start on Saturday morning! But thanks for the very kind offer.

I did pick up two sets of Weinmann levers at £12 and £10 respectively. I'll upload pics later, but one has hood covers and one doesn't. My thinking is the Mrs might want some more comfort for the hands, although the uncovered levers are maybe more period correct.

I also picked up another set of those Simplex shifters because they had a much cleaner clamp than the originals. Shiny, shiny ...

Oh and I may need some QR skewers too, unless I can clean up the originals.

Nearly there. I have to admit the black and cream look is really growing on me.

Had to sell my ex's mixte.

Nice build, refurbished with elbow grease is always better than buying in parts.

Nice looking build, shame you had to sell it.

Do you know what Make it was?

Do you know what Make it was?

Raleigh insert effeminate name here Reynolds 501 I think.

[ Marketing for womens cycling is so awful, Victoria Pendleton tanks and racing bikes in silver and soft blue, photos of wicker baskets and puppys, or helmeted grinning couples on a jaunt in the lake district. There is definitely a market for women's bikes that aren't a domestic 50s ideal. Mixte frames are very nice I think and show that womens cycling doesn't have to be what we're sold.
Woman + Lugged Steel Mens Bike = Walking into lamp posts ]