Holdsworth Monsoon Frame Numbering

Back in 70's I inherited a Holdsworth bike which I think was a 50's Monsoon. Trying now to recreate something similar and have an old frame to restore with the number 24110. I have seen suggestions that post war numbering started at ~6000 in 1946 and went to ~30000 in 1962. If correct this frame would be from 1958 having 24000+ number. Anyone got a Holdsworth from this age to confirm numbers?

Also I distinctly remember having 5 Speed Cyclo Benilux Mk7 gears on the rear, these were quite old and rusty at the time so I considered these to be the originals fitted. Having looked at catalogs from the 50's I see that Simplex of Hurret gears advertised as std fitting. Any thoughts on what actually would have been fitted or was replacement common?

Thanks Dave

I dated mine searching the internet for similar serial number plus there's very good source of Holdsworth knowledge here (if you don't know it already): http://www.nkilgariff.com/
There's history of models and some catalogue scans.
Check 'Readers Bikes' section of Classiclightweights http://classiclightweights.co.uk/readers_bikes.html/ as well.

OK, thanks will do. I have looked at classic lightweights and lined up the date/frame numbers there. Does look like 58 for mine. I will check out the sites you suggest too. Thanks again.

Finally finished the Monsoon, still not found the correct forks, but still looking. Far from original, but it fulfills two objectives, nostalgia and something to fiddle with. Replaced the original steel parts with aluminium and run 8sp on rear. Done about 100 miles on it so far most of it on club run last sat. went well.

Some pics below, more on Flikr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99314009@ ... 7220251963

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Looks very nice indeed! Who knew that a Benelux RD would run 8 speed? Not me for sure! Really like the mix of old & new components - gives the old girl new life!

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Hillwalker":1s5bdr64 said:

Looks very nice indeed! Who knew that a Benelux RD would run 8 speed? Not me for sure! Really like the mix of old & new components - gives the old girl new life!

Click to expand...

Thanks, Yes you have to modify the RD a bit. In theory using a 10sp cassette you should cover 7sp's with a 5sp RD, but but is doesn't quite. So I modified the adjuster barrel screw and took it to 8sp. Could have wreaked it a bit and the wall thickness at the nose end of thread is only about 1mm, but it is steel. Also the thinner chain tends to fall off the lower plain jockey wheel and jam against the hanger with 8sp, that is fixed with at toothed lower wheel. Running an old pair of Shemano 105 hubs to get the frame spacing right then change the free hub to Hyper glide to run the 10sp gears.

Took a while to find duel pivot brakes of the right drop and drilled aero levers. Again Shemano do them, but you have to put up with name stickers all oevr them. These ones seem to do the job.

Changed the forks for somthing better, still not quite the rights ones, not 531, but more in keeping.

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That looks like an expensive paint job!

I never got on with old derailleurs so I squeezed the rear end of my 1951 Tornado down to 114mm and it runs with a Sturmey-Archer AM from the same year.

Out of interest, do you get front brake rub when climbing? The front fork on mine was so light and flexible that the bike couldn't be ridden out of the saddle without brake rub noticeably slowing me down. In the end I bought a heavier fork in about the right style, had it sprayed to match, and mothballed the original fork.

Looks nice & tidy

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rogerzilla":2327io08 said:

That looks like an expensive paint job!

I never got on with old derailleurs so I squeezed the rear end of my 1951 Tornado down to 114mm and it runs with a Sturmey-Archer AM from the same year.

Out of interest, do you get front brake rub when climbing? The front fork on mine was so light and flexible that the bike couldn't be ridden out of the saddle without brake rub noticeably slowing me down. In the end I bought a heavier fork in about the right style, had it sprayed to match, and mothballed the original fork.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments, actually i did the paint myself with aerosol and gold paint pen. Coat of clear coat on top. Yes the old Benilux work better than I remembered them doing in my youth.

Never had that issue with forks on any bike so far. Sometimes mud guard stays sometimes rub when out of saddle. Has something broken? Are you running particularly close clearance wheel to forks, are the breaks adjusted too close or wheel buckled, etc.?