Re:
I am beginning to have a slight doubt about this being a Professional. This is just stemming from the fact that the lug near the BB seems slightly different to me and also I have just noticed the Reynolds 531c sticker. It is difficult to know whether this is the original sticker or not but I do not think I have heard of a Professional in 531c tubing before. They were 531,db,sl and professional through the years but I cannot see any sign of a 531c. However with Holdsworth they were never too consistent so it may be that they released a couple at some point .
The angles seems correct as do the lugs generally (does the lug on the down tube have a cutout in the triangle?) and the lack of mudguard eyelets would seem to match the spec of a Professional. It could very well be a shop Special as these were made to the customer’s requirements (I used to have an SL one) and would have many of the features of the Professional in terms of angles, lugs etc. The customer could have chosen the tubing and they maybe went for 531c. Not having the forks is a shame as we could have told a bit more from this. The low serial number could prove this as the shop would be given a batch of BBs and tubes and obviously production was slower than the factory resulting in a shop Special coming out in the late 70s early 80s with a one thousand something number whilst the factory was on 30,000 something at the time.
Whatever, it appears to be a top end Holdsworth and well worth restoring and looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
I am beginning to have a slight doubt about this being a Professional. This is just stemming from the fact that the lug near the BB seems slightly different to me and also I have just noticed the Reynolds 531c sticker. It is difficult to know whether this is the original sticker or not but I do not think I have heard of a Professional in 531c tubing before. They were 531,db,sl and professional through the years but I cannot see any sign of a 531c. However with Holdsworth they were never too consistent so it may be that they released a couple at some point .
The angles seems correct as do the lugs generally (does the lug on the down tube have a cutout in the triangle?) and the lack of mudguard eyelets would seem to match the spec of a Professional. It could very well be a shop Special as these were made to the customer’s requirements (I used to have an SL one) and would have many of the features of the Professional in terms of angles, lugs etc. The customer could have chosen the tubing and they maybe went for 531c. Not having the forks is a shame as we could have told a bit more from this. The low serial number could prove this as the shop would be given a batch of BBs and tubes and obviously production was slower than the factory resulting in a shop Special coming out in the late 70s early 80s with a one thousand something number whilst the factory was on 30,000 something at the time.
Whatever, it appears to be a top end Holdsworth and well worth restoring and looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
