Group--- At some time I was told that when Raleigh bought Carlton, the Carlton name was held in very high regard in the racing world. Raleigh tried dropping the Carlton name for a bit, then quickly reinstated same to take advantage of the name recognition, especially in the racing bikes. I have seen many Raleigh bikes with the Carlton decal on the seat tube--- this assumedly gave the bike a provenance of greater quality?
I am fortunate to have a lovely example of a 1948 =/- Carlton International (as shown in the CR listings). I also have another Carlton International that was obviously made after the buy-out, and has a multi-colored oval Raleigh headbadge. It has no other Raleigh markings, and the elaborate lug work is identical to the early model.
The early bike has no markings to designate it as an "International", whereas the later model has the same "International" decal on the top tube that we are all familiar with on the later edition nervex lugged bikes. So, I would assume the the name "International" is a holdover from the Carlton days.
Does anybody know a time line on the oval multi-colored headbadge?
Thandk and Cheeers--- Nelson Miller---- Seattle WA -- USofA
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
To: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>,classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: Subject: [CR]Carlton Timeline Question......
Date:
Wed, 23 Aug 2006 07:56:13 -0700 (PDT)
>Then perhaps it was the US market that caused Raleigh to brand Carltons as Raleigh, because the Carlton name was not well enough known here. I do remember from my childhood that Raleigh built a big name in the US just after WWII upon the 3-speed "English Racers", the first of them brought back from England by returning American soldiers. I was never aware of the Carlton name as a child in the 50's.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, TX
>
>Donald
Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
> Carlton Closed up in 1981 (source : http://www.carltoncycles.me.uk). I don't
>know exactly when Raleigh started to distribute Carlton in the USA,
>but Carlton tried several times to penetrate the USA market after
>acquisition by Raleigh - once via Huffy, and again using the "Carlton"
>brand. When these failed I think that the Raleigh Carltons originated
>in 1965 or 1966, but the catalogues on http://www.bulgier.net do not cover
>this period very well, e.g. the 1967 catalogue mentions the "Raleigh
>Carlton" bicycle from worksop, see :
>
>http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Retro-Raleighs/67-Catalog.pdf
>
>- Don Gillies
>San Diego, CA
>_______________________________________________
>Classicrendezvous mailing
list
>Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous