Help required identifying just what ive bought?!

[moffyr72]

Sometimes Evilbay throws up an old knacker of a bike that i remember from my childhood days.. Ive avoided buying a Mk1 Chopper, Bomber, Mag Burner BMX.. i've been good... Honest..
Kinda slipped a bit the last week or two, having had a flashback moment to a bike i was lent from a mate years ago.. a Hardrock Specialized MTB..I may've compared it to my cheap MTB in my head and may've clicked buy it now... I may've been inebriated as well..
But then I saw a 'vintage rusty racing bike' and remembered my Dad having a bike with similar styling .. where the tubes weld together? the tech term escapes my mind at the mo.
I did a bit of research and i think its a Holdsworth.. Dont think its Claud Butler.. Please see the pic below.

Things ive found.

Rubbing the frame down it appears to go back in the following colour order as you strip it to metal.. orange respray, grey undercoat.. red.. cream.. orange and then it stops at bare metal I think its probably had a long and multicoloured past!

On the headstock, where the name badging sits, there are no screw or rivet holes, so i assume it was decalled or bare when it was built.

The BB is rusted like my card playing (and im proper rusty at that) so i cant make out any stamping.

As your sat on the bike there's a 'pimple' on the left top of the BB which I assume is (under the rust) a grease nipple.

Its got various brazed addditions.. rings where the cables pass, etc

Errm.. thats it I think. Im sure the attached pics paint a thousand words.

I bought it as the boss and I regularly go for bike rides instead of hitting the gym and im fed up being left behind.. he rides a decent modern racebike and i ride a 70 quid halfrauds Trax MTB... I get left behind a lot!! Anyway, I want to kick his butt on something old school, hence the purchase of this. It looks quite well specc'd for a random treader, brookes seat, nice french rims and the like. I like it anyway. Stripping it down and bringing it back up to scratch with hopefully a period colourscheme and some modern additions to the spec sheet.

The only number for the frame/forks ive found is on the.. fork steerer tube? just two numbers: 20 then a good 10mm space then the number 3

I'd like to identify what it is and it's age so I have a good idea what colours to paint it.

Hopefully someone on here is an absolute genius and can identify it positively for me?

Cheers
Tim

 

[moffyr72]

bit more digging and found BREV. SIMPLEX or at least think it says Simplex, stamped on the fork drop outs..

 

[biggs682]

tim , i also watched this bike and was nearly tempted, but to many other projects on the go already stopped me .

no idea of make , chainset looks from the 80's but is it original ? are there any stampings on the hubs to date them , some gb stems are also date stamped normally just the last 2 numbers ie 86 would be 1986 etc etc .

good look

 

[moffyr72]

Hi Biggs,
No further details yet but im certain the chainset isnt original.. also has weinmann levers and brake calipers which again dont appear original. GB handlebar stem, unknown bars.. Campy seatstem by the way, which wont budge at all!!
Just off out to procure paint stripper to get the frame and forks sorted. Then I shall play with it further..
Missus originally was ok with my purchases but now bemusement has turned to a slight frown.. may have to subdue her with flowers and chocolate.. havent got the heart to tell her im looking at another frame too..

 

[Midlife]

Spokesman might chip in but it looks a bit Carlton ish with the wrap around seat stays......

Shaun

 

[moffyr72]

Looks very Carlton-ish, like you say although the ornate headstock design (what IS the word for that?) ive not been able to match against any of the Carltons.. also the forks ive noted for the most on the Carltons have a 'bolt hole' on the right fork for a lamp bracket..
The rims are Pelissier as they say so!, the quick release handles are marked P1001,
The rear derallieur is a Suntour VX, on the bottom idler wheel cage(?) it's stamped GT.. the idler wheels are worn to buggery (tech term..) so they'll need replacing
The rear mech is a Shimano SIS MF-Z015,
Seat post is a Campagnolo one and might as well be part of the frame, its that tightly in there.
GB Handlebar stem, unknown bars
Shimano gear levers,
Weinmann braking..
BB is '80's great universal catalogue bike' quality, chrome plated and marked only with two overlapping rings, like half an Audi badge.

All in all I think it's just someone's 80's Bitsa! Still dying to know what the frame is so I can match a paintjob to it.

 

[keithglos]

If you can see the size of your seat post, stamped top rear, you can judge the tubing gauge, 27.2mm would indicate probable butted 531. The seat tube is 1 1/8 inch outside, so you can calculate the thickness of the tube.
It looks more like a Viking, did they have a head badge? from perhaps the 1960's.
Any chance of a close up of the seat lug / wrapover?

 

[moffyr72]

Hi Keith,
I'll take some snaps tomorrow and have a look at the seat post, etc

 

[Goldie]

Well, it's a handsome devil, at any rate.

I think those lugs are Prugnat - I've got a couple of Claud Butler frames - one from 1963, the other from 69, so both from the period when CB and Holdswoth frames were often the same with different paint jobs - which have the same design lugs. The 1963 frame has a grease nipple on the bb shell too. So you might be right i.d.-ing it as a Holdsworth... Then again, I think Holdsworth were pretty wild on sticking metal head badges on all their marques by the 1960's.

The Hurricane carries the same design lugs in the 1964 catalogue. The fork crown is different, but my 63 Claud Super Coureur has the same design as yours:

(Images from the excellent http://www.nkilgariff.com/ pages)

 

[moffyr72]

Well curiouser and curiouser turns the tale..

Courtesy of Nitromors, I can now reveal that the rear frame dropouts are Brev Campagnolo's and on the left hand one ive found a serial, 59274 The 9 amd 2 are debatable but with a microscope im sure theyd show as that number the top bits are JUST readable. My search continues but maybe that info helps?
Few pics from as im stripping back the paint. note earlier orange coming thru from the lower layers in the serial number pic..

top front of headstock shows the design. note the apparent 'hole' isnt.. its a crescent shape? Hope that makes sense.. pic doesnt really bring it out well. bottom design matches.