Holdsworth frame help .

Bought this about 3 years ago,via this forum .
Finally getting round to doing something with it :facepalm:
Frame number is 69137. I think it is a fast back,other than that not much.Factory frame, rather than the shop?
So any more ideas as to model etc are welcome. I have looked at the nkilgariff web site but cannot see the wood for the trees when it comes to this style of frame .

Holdsworth by rebalrid, on Flickr
Holdsworth by rebalrid, on Flickr

Tempted to say fastback super mistral but those are not prugnat I Lugs... Hmmm

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I guess you missed dwscrimshaw's Holdsworth threads, even though they were active yesterday? By that source, I think your number suggests a shop built 'Italia', rather than a factory build. On present supposition I'd say 1970. Looks like it might've been updated in the '80s, getting under-bracket cable routing and those top-tube cable guides, maybe the lever bosses and bottle cage bosses too, along with a respray. If you can post a pic. of the frame number(s) it might help to confirm. Can't quite see if that is a brazed on seat post bolt housing or integral to the seat lug?

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I should of gone to spec savers
What got me interested was one I had seen on the bay.
The frame had been resprayed at Mercians a long while back .It will have had the extra braze on's done then I reckon.
I was told when new,it was finished in team colours.
Looking at the list of frame numbers it could be a shop built frame ..
I will add a couple more pictures.
Holdsworth by rebalrid, on Flickr
Holdsworth by rebalrid, on Flickr

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Ah, well.. that is afaik the usual stamp-style/location for the steerer number on a factory built frame- up the non-drive side.(?) (you don't often get to see steerer numbers, so my sample is small). I've yet to see a shop-built steerer number so I don't know if they are in the same location. A brazed on binder bolt housing would certainly suggest a shop-built frame, although they too can be done later to replace an original integral housing that has become distorted, of course, and yours does look like that is what has been done. i.e. you can see the remains of the pressed steel outline of the original housing.
So... you seem to have a factory frame with a shop number, throwing a further spanner in the works of attempts to decipher the Holdsworth numbering puzzle.

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Under side of b/b shell . Number odscured by later cable guides.
Holdsworth by rebalrid, on Flickr

Finally do I give it a proper paint job or a cheaper powder coat.
I no longer ride a bike without mudguards . Life long dislike of a wet.....

I have a chrome steel Campagnolo head set,Campagnolo nut fit brakes,which would suit it,but not much more.


It has a very small ding on its seat tube.

.

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Iirc that is the numbering style provisionally ascribed to Reg Collard, lending further weight to the idea that this is a shop-built frame. Whoever is the hand behind the stacked BB numbers, your frame answers my question as to whether the steerer number on such frames was also stacked- patently it was not. Yours is a bit diagonalised, but not stacked.

I no longer ride a bike without mudguards . Life long dislike of a wet.....

Click to expand...

If that is code for: "I no longer have a use for a frame without mudguard eyes, except as an indoor ornament", then my advice would be to leave the paint as it is, whether you are hanging it on the wall or selling it on.

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If that is code for: "I no longer have a use for a frame without mudguard eyes, except as an indoor ornament", then my advice would be to leave the paint as it is, whether you are hanging it on the wall or selling it on.[/quote]

I cannot argue with that.
Better someone else get some pleasure from it,than it just hanging in the garage.
I will remove the sealed b/b unit and move it on.

Thank you for your valued input .

Yes, I would agree with torqueless on the number, 69 shop frame, probable early 1970. I think Doug's deduction else where on this thread/forum will help with the builder. As for model I'll leave other to comment, but not seen the cable guides under the BB obscuring the number before, on a Holdworth, so yes could be a conversion.