Fancy lugs are something we get in for resprays all the time, mainly from the 1950s. Frames such as Hetchins, Claud Butlers, Ephgraves but this Carlton is probably one of my favourite designs. The head lugs themselves are nearly as intricate as a Hetchins Magnum Bonum.
Fancy lugs at a modest price
It’s quite surprising that these Carltons were sold for such a modest price. A whole bike was available for £18 10s where as our top of the range EB International with our own fancy lugs design was £17 5s for the frameset. Of course Carlton did not put quite the same amount of care into each frame as we did. You won’t find many builders in this era who spent quite as long as we did building each frame.
This particular frame is having the head lugs and the fork crown chromed, similar to its original finish in the 1950s. However the colour chosen is Poly Grigio, which is a bit more modern. Should look really nice when its finished.
Watch this space, I’ll be posting the pics of the finished frame in a couple of months time…
If you want to find more about classic frames with fancy lugs, head over to Classic Rendezvous.