ken bird - 1974 - 74807

[skive]

hi.

picked up this old ken bird off the bay.



it's in fantastic condition considering the age.

the chap who sold it bought it in cyprus 30 years ago. who knows how it got there!

done a bit of digging and found the frame number on the holdsworth frame numbers list: https://nkilgariff.com/Frame Numbers/Holdsworth Frame Numbers - 280721.pdf

it has some lovely touches, campagnolo dropouts and tidy wrap over seat stays.

right pleased.

 

[Midlife]

Nice . Is it a Mistral variant dressed as a Ken Bird?

 

[skive]

Nice . Is it a Mistral variant dressed as a Ken Bird?

it's a bit of an odd thing.

borrows loads of details from the pro and the mistral.

no bosses except a tiny gear stop for the front and rear mech cables.

stripped some paint and have found the reynolds stamps indicating 531.

 

[keithglos]

The Holdsworthy Company built their top model with specified variations and badged as Holdsworth, and for a number of retailers for own name transfers.

 

[Supratada]

Ah Ken Bird. He was legendary in my locale. His shop was a bit too far from home for regular usage except one time when I was trying to source an Italian BB for my Cinelli MTB. His was the only place that had one. The legend amongst local cyclists was that he would turn any conversation to his time spent as a mech on the TdF.

I suspected it was hyperbole but sure enough, I had barely said two things when he dropped it in.
A true Mollie Sugden’s bridesmaid. If I recall he had a white Porsche 928 or 944 with BBC as the number plate.