torqueless wrote:
Is that the whole number? Four digits?
You might want to clean up the existing paint before making a final decision on whether it needs a respray? Difficult to tell from photos. Could just be dirty from thirty years of storage.
Otherwise, don't let anyone blast it unless they understand and are familiar with old lightweight bicycles and the tubing they are built from.
If the seatpost came out that easy, that's a good omen. You might need to do no more than disassemble each component in turn, clean the parts, regrease and reassemble. Maybe all you'll need to replace are the soft bits.. tyres and bar tape and such...
Thanks an interesting number. We have seen 4D holdsworth factory numbers in the 30's, 60's and again in the 70's. (These can be seen in the Excel database accessed from the history site). The 70's group is a little unusual, some are clearly factory models, but a lot are contract builds for other companies such as Harding & DBS. I tend to view all these numbers as built by other firms or shops under licence and the group does also include one Pollard and a Clive Stuart. Most of these numbers run across the BB either under or on the drive side as the 6D numbers. The position here is also not uncommon for the factory or the shop.
Could this be an early RT built in the shop? The Stuart number is 1013 and reported as 1973. We do have a few frames 'Badged' as a RT with 1969 shop frame numbers, but it is more common to see them with 1974+ numbers. Again all these can be seen in the database. It is clear that things got awkward between the factory and the shop at this time and probably resulted in Roy making his own frames/bikes earlier than mid seventies, he eventually dropped the shop numbers and moved to his own system. Two possibilities I guess if this is correct; a factory sanctioned contract build by the shop or an under cover shop build using the factory number system rather than the std shop number. It is also very common to see cut outs in the lugs on a RT build.
I guess we will never really know, but this is another possibility to consider; ill log it as a RT for now. Interestingly I have just picked up a track frame badged as a Holdsworth that looks suspiciously like the RT Competizione in his 70's catalog. After hunting high and low for a number on the BB I found 55 on the down tube lug into the BB. Never seen a 2D RT number before so assume it is an early post shop numbering frame ~1976?, might put this on the forum for consideration.
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On the road: 1991 (Falcon) Holdsworth Professional | 1989 Raleigh Road Ace | Mid 80's Tom Board Lo-Pro | 1980's Roy Thame? Sprint | 1980 Holdsworth Professional SL | 1980 Holdsworth Special | 1969 Holdsworth Italia Sprint | 1958 Holdsworth Monsoon | 1958 Holdsworth Zephyr - shop special| 1953 Claud Butler Olympic Sprint
Others: 1996 CB Criterium | 1982 Holdsworth International Sprint | 1976 Holdsworth Mistral | 1974 Roy Thame Cronometro | 1966 Claud Butler Coureur | 1965 Holdsworth Italia Strava Speciallissimo | 1958 Holdsworth Zephyr - Nervex Pro Lugs | 1958 Zephyr | 1954 Claud Butler Jubilee | 1950 Holdsworth La Quelda | 1948 Claud Butler International Path | 1934 Holdsworth Stelvio
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