Portlandjim

I just finished the final assembly of my 1946 Holdsworth project. I've been working on it for about 6 months! This is a vanity bike, made the same year I was born. A stupid amount of work, I made or totally rebuilt almost every component. The parts are not perfecly period correct, but I want this bike to work. It does! More photos later. Jim Merz

repechage

Nice Sprints.
did you exchange the top portion of the rear mech to have the double spring?
Steel stem and post very much are visually in keeping with the period.

Kilroy1988 

Bravo, sir! It looks exceedingly functional with a relatively period-correct look overall. You've achieved a commendable balance between form and function. The photo is saved to my Holdsworth files for future reference!

-Gregory

Portlandjim

No double spring on the Gan Sport rear derailleur. I did modify it though. For riding the longer courses in Eroica and avoiding walking, I found that I need a low gear using a 27t rear and a 36t front. I can get this to work with a late version Super Record rear derailleur if the high gear cogs are 14t and 47t. This bike has a Gran Sport rear from the early 1950's, and will not handle this range of gear stock. I modified a SR pully cage to fit on the GS. I had to use a Record spring stop, and I had to modify the upper pivot limit stop. The derailleur angles forward instead of being almost vertical. I also included a pair of my modified Enduro pulleys. The result is it shifts all the gears nicely. The front derailleur is a Cyclo Benlux rod shifter. It was used, I made new parts to reduce all the slop. This works very well also. The stem is a period correct GB Kromo, it's excellent. Bars are aluminum GB. The seat post is period correct, an aluminum Titan. The pedals are period correct Holdworth Allez, very rare. They were hardly used. The clip headset is also a Holdworth Allez item, it came with the frame. The original bearing design, Chater Lea intigrated races, really doesn't work very well. I modifed the lugs to accecpt modern sealed drop in 1" bearings. I remade all the headset parts, they look just like the original but work much better. The crank arms are Chater Lea, with double chainrings made by me with Holdworth Allez design. The saddle is a 1950's B17 that has been modifed for use by a pro racer back in the day. The hubs are Airlite, made by me. The QR's are original Airlite period correct. Brakes are Ballila side pull, Holdworth used brakes from this Italian company starting before WWII. I made amost all the hardware for them. This frame was originally made for use with tubular wheels! I used a pair of 1950's Weinmann rims.Jim

Robvolz 

Being a proper British bike, you routed the brake cables for British roads. like it.

qcpmsame 

Beautifully executed bike, well done sir on all of your handwork and building the Holdsworth for use. Best of luck on the Eroicas you undertake.

Bill

ascherer 

That's a damn handsome build, Jim. Bravo!

Fredo76

Lovely.

There is something to be said for the absence of 'patina', otherwise known as 'wear and tear'.

Congratulations!

TenGrainBread 

Hard to beat the elegance of those fork blades. I bet it's a very comfortable bike.

bikingshearer 

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Aardwolf

Very nice, but we do need more pictures
Looks like the paintwork is rather special too.

jdawginsc 

How the heck do you machine all of those different parts?!?! The head lugs look super cool.

Did you paint or send that out for paint. The lug lining and pinstripe work looks awesome!

Stunning little bike.

1989Pre 

The gold lug-lining tops it all off really well. Although later, the Benelux rod is a great addition. It is interesting that it negotiates a jump from 47T to 36T.
Were the brake-lever hoods hard to make?

John E

Your customized rear derailleur is giving me ideas for one of the Capo Siegers. I really like what you have done. You are right about your front derailleur being rare -- I have seen only one other, at the Cunninghams' old CyclArt shop in Vista CA.

rccardr 

That's quite nice, sir.

non-fixie 

Very nicely done! Quite discrete.

Shall we be seeing you in Gaiole next year?

Portlandjim

I will take some good detail photos, but it's pouring rain here and I don't have an indoor studio for taking bike photos.

I chose some parts that are a bit later than the frame build date, but only if they offered a way to allow the functionality I needed. Many riders back in those days changed parts as superior versions became available, the parts I added aren't out of the question. The Benilux front derailleur I used has a cage design very similar to Campagnolo GS/NR/SR. The key to having it work with a 36 inner chainring is the tooth count jump. 11 teeth is what I found to be the limit for acceptable front shifting with the Campagnolo front derailleurs, it was also true with the Benilux I have. So, the big ring is only 47 teeth. This makes a rather low high gear, but I'm old and can't average 25 MPH these days! The brake levers were NOS and came with the hoods. Balilla brakes, which were the first aluminum brakes offered for sale, were listed in the Holdworth catalogs even before WWII. The model I got are for sure newer, but the design of the calipers are very similar to the early version side pull. The design of the caliper is very similar to Campagnolo Record, with a quick release that works slightly differently. I wanted a side pull brake with a QR and these fit the bill. However, the construction details were hideous. Pivot holes that were punched, bores pointing off in random directions. Pivot shafts with diameters that had no relation to the bores they rode in. So, I made all the hardware using bronze bushes for pivots. Everything optimized for correct clearance. Weeks worth of work for just the brakes! It turns out that the lever cable pull ratio was really poor, the brakes felt solid but required superman's hands to stop. I am pretty sure Tuillo looked at these brakes when he was designing his Record brake. The lever blade on the Ballila is very similar to the Record blade, but has a much better pivot position. With much work I modified the lever bodies to allow Record blades to be installed. I stripped the anodize off, filed the Campy name off and polished the blades. I have yet to ride them, but the cable pull ratio is much better now. Campy Record brakes require a lot of muscle to stop, but the way the Ballila levers were before was much worse.

Portlandjim

I don't like flying! This bike would be fun to ride there though.

AdventureManCO 

How about Cino?

Nice bike BTW!

bikingshearer 

What do you like to fly in? <rimshot>

I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

non-fixie 

It would! Think of the audience you'd have there ...

Anyway, I'd have loved to see it in the metal. Did I say it's beautiful?

1989Pre 

They do go for a bit of cake.., when available. Jim has the early cage, too. His says Cyclo-Made in England. The later ones just say Benelux in larger font. The earlier ones are panto-graphed, where-as the later ones just have the name stamped in. These mechs are enjoyable and reliable. They give a very sure shift (for those of us fatigued or just clumsy-at-times).., and, speaking of clumsy, one needn't worry about his finger(s) bouncing off his spokes during an attempted f.d. shift.

mpetry912 

What a beauty. And those fork blades. so graceful.

many very nice details

/markp

chain_whipped

Outstanding and handsome. I'm all for relaxing the period this and that. That headstock work is beautiful and appropriate!
PS. Dig the pinstripes including the ones circled the stays.