1950 Holdsworth cyclone renovation (completed pics 11/3)

nice work, looks lovely - I'm especially liking that headset. Bet you can't wait for this sh1t weather to clear up so you can get out and about.

Very Nice! Nowt wrong with running modern tires. Even the L'Eroica will allow them. So I expect you'll be riding it down at HH for the vintage track day?

cheers guys.

momentum, exactly what i was thinking. still would like to give it a go.

t-4003, it was a NOS brampton, £30 or £40 i forget?!?

fingers crossed tramps.

Momentum You need a torch for soldering spokes, but a fairly small one that runs off canisters should do it.

you might be able to get away with one of those gas powered soldering irons.
they come with various attachments. mine's got a semi-blowtorch bit on it.
your welcome to borrow it, but you might want to go for the more powerful version.

todd, i've been keeping an eye out for clements. hopefully some tub sealant that provenrad has for me will work, not that it will see the road that much. i'm about to build up some 27" clinchers, but still not sure, will probably sell those.

Clement on Ebay.

Some are made in Taiwan though.

Couldn't find any Dunlops! (English) You might find Dunlop for 27" clincher...

I used spray sealant which was good but knackered the valve in the end.
Rode for ages with no punctures until I was miles from nowhere with a gash which was too big for the sealant to close up.
Used a cheap (Conti Giro £13 Evans) spare tub un-glued which was absolutely fine to get me home.
A nice tubular holder hanging from the bike seat would be nice. ;)

yeah saw those the other day. keeping eye out for vintage ones though. yeah, dunlop clinchers do pop up once in a while on ebay. but it is a track bike.

I see...
I guess it's quite hard finding vintage British bits, especially tyres.
Also...vintage tyres can crack and don't have much puncture protection.

Great job!

I'd be scared to bring this on the monopoly ride - 48x17 is a pretty aggressive gear for riding on the streets, brakeless, with tubs :). On the other hand i really want to see this in the steel - excellent job dale!

asm I'd be scared to bring this on the monopoly ride - 48x17 is a pretty aggressive gear for riding on the streets, brakeless, with tubs :). On the other hand i really want to see this in the steel - excellent job dale!

shall i swap to the 44T for you! ;)

I'm sure you'll be fine dale, you can look after yourself. You're a big boy now after all... Gosh they grow up so fast...

ACE! Looks much better all retroed up without sill deep V's on it!

Just showed it to a guy I work with who's really into track bikes but is one of the original OGs - he rode from Portsmouth to Cornwall in a aday on a singlespeed in the 50s and is in the process of restoring a semi lugged Claude Butler. He's loving the bike too and pointed out to me that there are some Holdsworth head badges on ebay, although I'm guessing that you want to ride this now rather than mess with the paint job!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Worthy-Bicycle-Head-Badge-by-W-F-Holdsworth_W0QQitemZ220208580098QQihZ012QQcategoryZ56197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Holdsworth-vintage-head-badge_W0QQitemZ250222385680QQihZ015QQcategoryZ56197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

seen them ;) , thanks though. the second one is for post 1955. the first one is a very very very rare pre 1955 and will probably go for riduculous money (first one i've seen and i've trawelled ebay for 6mths). from my research, after the war through to 1955 not all holdsworth's came with a metal badge, due to the shortage of metals. seems my frame was one of those as b4 it was sent to mercian i scraped the metal back on the headtube (getting back to some original paint, metallic blue with white lug lining) and there were no holes or file marks where it could of been removed. rest of the frame inc head-tube and bb grease nipple threads etc untouched. so it will stay without them.

yo dale thats a fine restoration job you have done on your holdsworth track bike! it takes great patientce and love of bikes research and sourcing all the parts and then off course the final building..
,body work on the rolling chassis looks perfect,from the first picture of frame in black...

snap! http://www.kalavinka-bikes.com/image/track/track-7416.htm

very very nice looks like a labour of love

danger joel snap! http://www.kalavinka-bikes.com/image/track/track-7416.htm

Oh no dale... you'r gonna have to send it back to mercian.

edit...

nice bike dale

asm [quote]danger joel snap! http://www.kalavinka-bikes.com/image/track/track-7416.htm

Oh no dale... you'r gonna have to send it back to mercian.[/quote]
or let you change the cranks :p

I have been thinking about this bike and Dogs I think that you have done lovely job bringing it back to life like this, good for you mate

Can I ask a question then, this a throughbred track bike right , if it were a path bike it would be drilled

yet it has got quite a bit more clearance at the rear than you would see on a modern steel track bike

does that mean in the 1950's the geometry was slacker

and do you know in which era it started to tighten up

I kinda curious if you learnt anything about it in your research?

older track frames are definitely slacker. geometry started to tighten up in late 60's as a guess. definitely tight in 70's, although some are still relaxed, like the no name dutch frame i ride as a commuter. track/path were drilled but also tended to have mudguard eyelets as well and pump bosses. but you could mix and match. i stuck to track because it had no eyelets. if i ran 27" wheels it would fill the forks, but track bikes tended to have tubs which are 622 or 700c, and clinchers of this era are 27" or 630. i'm about to build up some clincher 27" so will see how it looks.

So the 27 inch is about 8mm wider yeah that will be interesting to see and then you can ride the clinchers on the street and the tubs at the track, pretty cool set up ! thanks for info dogs, I think that from now on I shall be looking at every old bike frame in a different frame of light...LOL

this is probably a track/path frame

the track/path frame sounds a bit like mine, drilled for a front brake, with eyelets front and back as well as track ends.