Holdsworth Mistral restoration

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Nice

thanks mate.

As part of the new cockpit I hope I'll have time to clean the frame and lug line it.

New cockpit!

But no time to lug line the frame :-(
I've put on the NOS Shimano Golden Arrow brake levers, re-used the old brake cables (as you can see the front one is a bit short, will change it at a later time) and wrapped the whole thing in cotton tape.

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Oh I've also swapped the stem and handlebar. Gone is the GB stem with unknown handlebar, now there's a slightly longer Cinelli stem clamped to a Cinelli Campione d'Italia (or Del Mondo, can't recall which one now!) handlebar.

Now the Golden Arrow is complete, except for the BB. Once day I'll have the threads re-done and I can put back a Golden Arrow BB instead of the YST threadless one (which, by the way, is spinning great so far, but heavy as hell)

And luckily enough I also found an almost new Shimano 600 MF-6161 freewheel!!
Which is exactly the one found on the Shimano 105 Golden Arrow groupset!

I'm very happy :)

Tomorrow it'll meet the newly laced rear hub to Rigida Sputnik rim :-)
Also I'll put on soon the Shimano 600 EX pedals I've got which I've never used as I thought they were not part of the Golden Arrow groupset.
Indeed the GA groupset is not "complete". It never had pedals on its own, it borrowed them from the 600EX groupset.
This is clearly shown in the Shimano 600 EX groupset brochure:

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Shimano_New_600_EX_-_brochure.html

Page 7 shows, as part of the brochure, the 105 Golden Arrow groupset which lacks the pedals.
Also on Page 7 it shows it sold with the MF-6151 (5-speed) or MF-6161 (6-speed) freewheel (which, actually, are part of the Shimano 600 groupset.)
Further research showed me that the MF-6161 is exactly the one I have!

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Now, anyone knows what the lettering means?
In my case it's Shimano 600 "oo" , but on-line I've seen different namings.

Also the Shimano 600EX freewheel (MF-6207) has a black inner ring:

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Shimano_Bicycle_System_Components_%281984%29_page_96.html

are you sure that it even is "oo" rather than just decoration, or typographic decoration, or even functional? they look too circular to be o's

I think they are letters as I've seen pictures or others with different letters, like "bf" or "eh"

"ca"

"ed"

so it seems a code, I think one letter year and second month? but 'o' as a month doesn't make much sense.

how bizarre, i really want to know what they mean now!!

Indeed!

I will find out :) surely someone on the web has an explanation.

There's this date code system: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/shimano/Shimano_date_codes.htm

but 'oo' doesn't make sense...unless it is NOT 'oo', could it be a dirty 'cc'?
Now it's at my LBS to put on the wheel which is been re-laced with new spokes and rim.
Once back later today I'll give it a quick clean

'cc' would mean March 1978 which is the year the Shimano 600 EX Arabesque was released:

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looks like cc, you can see the little gap on the left. excellent detective work!

I'm not happy anymore :(

Just found out that the hub is actually Uniglide and not screw-on so I can't use the freewheel above :/

Anyway, new rear wheel is on. Shimano 6 speed cassette on Golden Arrow hub (Uniglide :/) laced to a strong and heavy Rigida Sputnik rim.
Will re-build the front one soon too for a proper though touring machine!

I cleaned the thing a bit and yes, it is "cc'.

Today in Richmond. amazing weather.
I only need to re-do the front wheel with the same new Rigida Sputnik rim and a bit more cable on the front brake and done.
(Or maybe swap the brakes...)

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The Sputnik are massive. With the 28c tyres (minimum size they accept) I've got almost no clearance with the mudguards!

Looks great

Cheers. She does :)

Hi guys,

I'd like to put a low rack on the front forks.

Suggestions that would go nice with my build and with my bank?

Anyway, finally the wheels are new, new Sputnik Rigida rims (heavy, but strong) with new spokes.
Cables are nice and tidy, bike has seen an LBS for a full re-grease and clean, ready to rock!
Only issue is the rear mudguard that keeps squeaking, need to fix it better.

Here it is in her final guise!

(The Sugru around the rear rack is to prevent the rear pannier from making loads of noise at every bump)

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now that I commute for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening I am really appreciating this frame !
It's really sprinty when I ask it to and very comfy when I sit on the saddle and pedal along.
It starts quickly, even if it flexes under the load of my legs pushing. I leave plenty of new bikes behind at the lights.
I do usually keep my gear ration (i.e. even on longer stretches of road I rarely change) so some do pass me there, but it's mostly because they can quickly change to a quicker ratio, not because of the frame (well, might be a little :)

Anyway, for the way I ride, this Mistral is proving perfect albeit a bit, of course, heavy due to the rack and mudguards (plus lock and panniers)

Mmm just re-measured my bike and found out it is actually a 58 square!

Just (finally!) dropped off my Mistral to Mario for paint. Project is go again now... :)