A good game to play for a Sunday... what's my Holdsworth?

[DrewSavage]

Afternoon all... I've succumbed to eBay bargainousness again, at least I hope it's a bargain. Might anyone be kind enough to play detective and help me work out exactly what it is and how old it is?

I got it off a house clearance feller in Nantwich for £50. It's a Holdsworth frame, at least that's what the headbadge says. No decals, looks like it's been powdercoated at some stage but then beyond that not looked after very well. Shimano SIS rear derailleur suggests it might be a post-Townsend Group takeover 1980s job, but Weinmann Vainqueur brakes and Simplex levers make me hope it might be older than that.

Haven't tried to get the seatpost out yet but even if I did, I haven't got anything to measure it accurately enough to find out what tubing it's made from. It doesn't feel super light (although does have mudguards attached currently) and the fact that there are eyelet holes suggests it might be from more the touring end of the range.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone may recognise something about the way the frame's built from the photos that will help me identify the model so I can restore it appropriately if it's worth it, or put something out of the parts bin to sell it on if it isn't. If it's a good frame I'd much rather keep it and ride it.

 

[DrewSavage]

Re:

One last photo...

 

[legrandefromage]

It looks quite modern (in retro road bike terms anyway) and unfortunately quite low end with those lugs and drop-outs.

Early mid 1980's sorta thing.

 

[DrewSavage]

Cheers, that's kind of what I thought. It's an interesting one, because from what I've been able to see, not much at the lower end of the 1980s range at the lower end had mudguard eyelets, pump pegs and/or a boss on the front to attach a lamp. The nearest thing I can find in the 1980-85 era is a Brevet - http://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsCats/Cat ... evet85.jpg - but it has no pump pegs.

The Simplex levers are an exact match, and Vainqueur brakes would make more sense on an Audax bike. But it has no pump pegs, and I'm not sure if the fork bosses on my frame are the right kind - and I'm at work right now, and besides the frame is in my friend's garage.

The Avanti 501 - http://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsCats/Cat ... anti85.jpg - makes more sense from a weight point of view, it has eyelets to attach mudguards, but again no pump pegs and no boss on the fork.

 

[DrewSavage]

Could it be an Equipe that's been resprayed?

It appears in the 1972 (http://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsCats/Cat ... _close.jpg), 1975 (http://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsCats/Cat ... uipe76.jpg) and 1978 catalogues (http://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsCats/Cat ... uipe78.jpg)

The 1975 catalogue specifies Vainqueur 999 brakes (http://www.nkilgariff.com/Aids/Aids76/page_iiEquipe.jpg), and the 1978 photo does seem to have the right kind of mudguards, the boss on the front fork and the pump pegs.

Would there have been a frame number on the bottom bracket? If so, the powder coating seems to have obliterated it. Do Weinmann brakes have anything on them that would indicate date of manufacture?

I also wonder, looking at my third photo, if that might be the original orange frame colour showing through where the powder coating's worn off a bit by the rear dropouts.

 

[keithglos]

Re:

Looks to me more like Holdsworthy from 1960s. Very few true racing frames were built then without mudguard eyes, This is a lower end Holdsworthy, not a racer, they were genuinely hand built to standard designs.

Keith

 

[hamster]

FWIW definitely cannot be powdercoat over existing paint. Powdercoat needs bare metal - so it's probably an enamel. The good thing is that the decals are likely to be underneath it, provided you flat the red paint back carefully.