Holdsworth Mistral restoration

How many holes?

i would prefer 36

Re-posting after the LFGSS move to Microcosm.

Got a Brooks B17 saddle as I found the Rolls surprisingly uncomfortable (on the contrary, the white Ergo Rolls is very comfy, even if they look the same.)
The Rolls looked MUCH better on the bike though :(

Also managed to find Golden Arrow wheelset with all the bits and in great conditions (yeeee!), so the old ones are now spares in case of issues.

Zoom in (real dimensions: 1024 x 768)

I also managed to clean the brake hoods, but haven't taken a full picture of the bike with them, but on my flickr album you can see the before and after:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anidel/sets/72157643692675805/

Below a list of the components as it is now:

= Shimano 105 Golden Arrow full groupset (excluding the bottom bracket, pedals and brake levers) comprising:

• Downtube shifters
  
• Headset
  
• Rear / Front brakes (nutted)
  
• Rear / Front hubs with oil cups and skewers
  
• Rear / Front derailleurs
  
• Crankset (non fluted)
  (I do have the GA bottom bracket and pedals)
  
  

= YST threadless bottom bracket
= White Shimano 105 brake levers
= Lyotard 460D Pedals
= Christophe steel toe clips
= Christophe leather straps
= Allez! pump
= Unknown rims, spokes and cassette
= Brooks B17 black leather saddle
= Campagnolo rear dropout adjuster screws
= Campagnolo Record seat post bolt
= White Campagnolo brake cables
= Kalloy fluted 27.2mm seat post
= GB steam
= Unknown handlebars
= Ping bell
= Scwhalbe Marathon Supreme 35x700c tyres
= KMC Z7 grey 7-8 speed chain
= Cinelli black cork tape

Last pictures. Will post more if there are changes to the bike.

Thanks for all your input people!

Looks great: well done!

What did you clean the hoods with?

How does it ride? The handlebars look like they could be rotated a little.

I used simple stuff you use to clean the kitchen. A dirt remover. Worked a threat and easy. In the end it was just that, dirt.

It rides beautifully and comfortable, but fast if I want it to, albeit didn't go fast for long yet as I need to calibrate the brakes and possibly get Koolstop pads.

I tried to level the handlebars, are they not?

These are two of my favourite pictures I took of it:

and

black hoods would be much better

Possibly. Will try to swap them with black. But first I'd like to try put on Golden Arrow brakes (non aero though).

Very classy , nicely poised!

You should find it more comfortable to rotate the bars up. If the drops are at a slight angle, your wrist will be in a straighter line with your arm.

I slacken the bar clamp a little, so the bars can be moved but aren't loose and sit on the bike: if you get on the drops now, it's easy to find the "sweet spot".

Also most people set their Brooks slightly nose-up: you sit in a Brooks, not on it, like other saddles.

Thanks for the hints...as it is now the Brooks is already pointing too high for me!! So not sure I'll raise it. I might give it a try though; I've seen many people doing that, so it might work if I find the proper position on it.

Will also try the handlebar tip, albeit so far I've been riding low very little anyway :)

On Saturday I went riding around the closed streets of London (Prudential Ride) and after that met some friends around Spitafields market where we parked the bikes then went to grab something to drink.
On the way to Brick Lane for a stroll we passed near where we parked the bikes and noticed a gentleman staring at the Holdsworth and studying it with interest.
Unfortunately I couldn't speak with him as I was on the other side of the road and he left before I could reach him and the bikes.

Just a bit of "prowdness" show off :p

Get used to it: nothing draws a crowd like some fine, old steel! :)

Will have to :)

Any suggestions for mudguards?

I guess, sadly, only black will work

No! Silver on a bike of that period.

True, there's a lot of silver already anyway. Moreover silver gives me more option.

Mudguards and rack now on the bike. It is finally complete.

I simply need to calibrate the brakes (and shorten the brake cables) and the shifting a bit, possibly the mudguards and setup the handlebars as Scilly suggested.

But component-wise, it is final (later I'll put on a front rack too.)

Yeeee!

That looks fantastic: great job, well done!

Thank you Scilly, particularly for your hints and suggestions and nice words :)

I don't know if you saw it, but I'm getting hold of another Holdsworth (here in Classifields). Trying to figure out which model is that.

I haven't, no: national Holdsworth collection?

Turns out it doesn't look like a Holdsworth after all. We'll see.

I so much like it.

Almoat fully loaded, panniers, saddle bag, cycle computer.

Ready to carry me around!

4 Attachments

Nice little ride today, 50km from Brentford to Wandsworth via Barnes, then followed the Wandle Trail down to Croydon (almost) where I followed a few routes to Kingston, then up along the Thames to Brentford via Teddington Lock.

In Kingston I stopped at Evan as my headset came lose and I kept tightening it by hand (clearly not enough!) The guy I gave it too brought it upstairs where they have the mechanics and when came down said everyone up there loved it and kept chatting around how clean and new it looked :-D :-D

Nice ride, bike performed great, no pains, saddle is comfy already even if not broken in yet.

The rear wheel started to annoy me before Kingston. It seems needs truing as few spokes came loose (source of the noise). Bought a spoke wrench and will try to do it myself, so that I learn it.

Overall really happy how I built it up and was worried I hadn't tighten something enough and it'll fall apart in a longer ride :) likely that wasn't the case and the bike is noise free and smooth.

Great stuff.