531 Carlton Kermesse

Anyone?

An email from a Carlton authority
"Frame number dates the bike to December 1981. The W is for Worksop, where the bike was made. Must have been one of the last. The Kermesse was generally one of the better models, and from it’s reintroduction in 1978 had a Reynolds 501 Chrome-alloy frame. I can’t find any reference to the Kermesse after 1980, so don’t know if they changed the frame to 531. It is a bit of a difficult period as Carlton had their own catalogue, with different Carltons in the Raleigh catalogue and short runs of some models that only appeared on a loose sheet.

Sorry I can’t be of more help."

Well I know a lot more now than I did so I decided to share it with you all

rifraf said:

An email from a Carlton authority
"Frame number dates the bike to December 1981. The W is for Worksop, where the bike was made. Must have been one of the last. The Kermesse was generally one of the better models, and from it’s reintroduction in 1978 had a Reynolds 501 Chrome-alloy frame. I can’t find any reference to the Kermesse after 1980, so don’t know if they changed the frame to 531. It is a bit of a difficult period as Carlton had their own catalogue, with different Carltons in the Raleigh catalogue and short runs of some models that only appeared on a loose sheet.

Sorry I can’t be of more help."

Well I know a lot more now than I did so I decided to share it with you all

I have a Carlton Kermesse that I bought when I was 16 (1984 ish). At that time I believe that Carlton had been bought by Raleigh. It has a Reynolds 501 Chrome-alloy frame, Shimano 105 chain gear (originally) and weinmann brakes, levers and I think wheels.

I've been using this bike recently to get back into cyling with the local club but I have had to modify it a little as the cassette I had was not compatable with my derailer.

It is now destined to be my winter bike after buying a modern bike.

Regards

Dave

he Hi

Saw your post.

The Carlton Kermesse was the mercedes of the Carlton range-the Careera was the Bentley.

Both the Kermesse and the Careera were handbuilt and numbered-both coming with certificates-built in Worksop in Nottinghamshire-England.

The Kermess was built usng reynolds 501 tubing-the Careera with the 531.

These bikes were built from the 85-87.

My father bought me a Careera in 87 for 300 pounds-(alot of cash back then, especially for a 14 year old!) -also in store was the Kermess, but was not expensive eneough for a spoilt kiddie like me!!

Hope ths helps

G

I am not going to be much help except that I do remember that Carlton did build quite a few high end British Raleigh frames in the 1980's. They were the more coveted frames with Raleigh built frames basically being junk.