91lavadome
Old School Hero
Avert your eyes if you don't want to see a basiclly NOS 1985 Holdsworth Avanti stripped down and modernised with 8 speed stis and mudguards!
The Problem
Got peer pressured into the etape so need a road bike to put in some serious mileage on. Bought a rather nice 1996 Pinarello Asolo(viewtopic.php?t=235327) which after a few muddy salty sandy wet rides around the potholed roads of dorset I decided was far too nice to trash.
This holdsworth popped up on gumtree locallly so I invested.
As you can see basically mint and original and NOS. Simplex gears weinnman brakes a nasty plastic brookes vitesse saddle.
I then stripped the pinarello of its shimano 600 an transferred it all to the Holdsworth. Got some tatty 600 stis cheap of ebay, fitted some guards and hey presto, a winter mile munching machine. The drop on the 600 calipers was perfect so avoided the hassle of long drops. Had to drill
the frame to fit the allen key style recessed brake bolts.
looking at the holdsorth catalogue for the year
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgariff ... Avanti.jpg
the avanti was described as the sports tourer-ie pretty low end made of gas pipe reynolds 501. Despite this, or maybe because of this I can report she rides like a dream. Very comfortable, a little flexy in the bb and stem area but had 39 mph out of it the other day and its rock solid and less speed wobble than the asolo (same wheels etc). The guards are essential for winter(and maybe summer!) The shifting is sweet-set up perfectly (where the modest emoticon?) Done about 500 miles on it so far, only another 10000 to go!
Prehaps as a way of getting back some bike karma the pinarello will be clad in a campag groupset-didn't feel right having the functional but soulless japanese gear on her.
The Problem
Got peer pressured into the etape so need a road bike to put in some serious mileage on. Bought a rather nice 1996 Pinarello Asolo(viewtopic.php?t=235327) which after a few muddy salty sandy wet rides around the potholed roads of dorset I decided was far too nice to trash.
This holdsworth popped up on gumtree locallly so I invested.
![8528017328_2aa58b4def_z.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%2F8375%2F8528017328_2aa58b4def_z.jpg&hash=78c916bd0513a2b10c5a0cd30c271dc6)
![8528018194_198da99bd8_z.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%2F8240%2F8528018194_198da99bd8_z.jpg&hash=e4f4a58d92ff05804dd444f3f3e48439)
As you can see basically mint and original and NOS. Simplex gears weinnman brakes a nasty plastic brookes vitesse saddle.
I then stripped the pinarello of its shimano 600 an transferred it all to the Holdsworth. Got some tatty 600 stis cheap of ebay, fitted some guards and hey presto, a winter mile munching machine. The drop on the 600 calipers was perfect so avoided the hassle of long drops. Had to drill
![8526900011_2a762f4ed3_b.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%2F8239%2F8526900011_2a762f4ed3_b.jpg&hash=543f1a251eaf78dad782823c36188283)
looking at the holdsorth catalogue for the year
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgariff ... Avanti.jpg
the avanti was described as the sports tourer-ie pretty low end made of gas pipe reynolds 501. Despite this, or maybe because of this I can report she rides like a dream. Very comfortable, a little flexy in the bb and stem area but had 39 mph out of it the other day and its rock solid and less speed wobble than the asolo (same wheels etc). The guards are essential for winter(and maybe summer!) The shifting is sweet-set up perfectly (where the modest emoticon?) Done about 500 miles on it so far, only another 10000 to go!
Prehaps as a way of getting back some bike karma the pinarello will be clad in a campag groupset-didn't feel right having the functional but soulless japanese gear on her.