What Have You Fettled Today?

[pippy]

The gear-cable tunnel arrived yesterday evening so this morning was spent doing final-assembly stuff on the Holdsworth. Everything is now finished. Cables for brakes and derailleurs have been sorted (at least as well as can be achieved in a static test situation).
The limit screws of the front mech needed adjustment so there's very possibly a need of a 'settling-down period' equipment-wise.

At the outset the idea was simply to redress the damage done to the top- and down-tube decals by a large number of pesky, hungry snails (yes; really!) when the bike was over-wintering in the shed but as time went by it became clear that the project was going to 'grow arms and legs'.
There are still two things to sort-out; the saddle needs more attention with the white leather restorer / dye cream and a new pair of white leather toe straps have been ordered as these ones are rather knackered. I can't complain, though, as they have lasted almost 40 years...

The next thing to do will be to take it for a shake-down run but for that I'll wait until the rain stops; I'd rather do that bit of testing on a dry road surface............

Final snaps regarding this project. One 'Before' and the other 'After';

Philip.

 

[KuroSan]

2nd attempt to fit the new front brake went without issues now I have the hose cutting tool and barb press, just need to bleed it now before aligning properly.
Also finally finished paint stripping stage of the Boardman frame and am now giving it a sanding ready for primer at the weekend. I wasn't going to do any metal polishing on the main frame due to the amount of epoxy filler used to hide the welds, but i did think maybe I could do just the rear shock mount, I'll look at that more once I'm done sanding.

 

[Elybazza61]

BB on the Trek still stuck so will try a heat gun on it later, think it might be staying in .

 

[DCLane]

Pulled the Ridgeback Platinum audax bike out of storage and made a couple of tweaks following the 400km 'test ride' Llanfair 400 audax in May.

I'd intended changing the pedals but never got round to it, so the Ultegra 6800 pair have been swapped for a Dura-Ace 9100 pair. Also, the right shifter was adjusted as I'd got a numb hand/shoulder from May's ride. The bike was also cleaned.

It should now be ready for the Friday's ride tomorrow night.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Have just fitted my granddaughters blue bike with pink cable outer, bar grips and pedals.
She loves it and didn’t like all the old black stuff.

 

[DCLane]

A pair of newly-arrived Dura-Ace 7800 shifters for the Carrera Vengeance magnesium needed cleaning as the original purchase of the same shifters, which vanished en route, did have a spare pair of hoods. However, these don't. Long story!

On the left is a shifter hood cleaned with degreaser. On the right is the comparable dirty hood, which is now cleaned:

 

[SuperGalactian]

Replaced the mudflap on my Super Galaxy. Decided to copy the shape of the old DIY one fitted by the (or a) previous owner, which was very effective. I used an off-cut of the rubber sheeting used for shed roofs. Definitely not for the weight-weanies or speed merchants, but this isn’t a fast bike anyway.

 

[SuperGalactian]

The gear-cable tunnel arrived yesterday evening so this morning was spent doing final-assembly stuff on the Holdsworth. Everything is now finished. Cables for brakes and derailleurs have been sorted (at least as well as can be achieved in a static test situation).
The limit screws of the front mech needed adjustment so there's very possibly a need of a 'settling-down period' equipment-wise.

At the outset the idea was simply to redress the damage done to the top- and down-tube decals by a large number of pesky, hungry snails (yes; really!) when the bike was over-wintering in the shed but as time went by it became clear that the project was going to 'grow arms and legs'.
There are still two things to sort-out; the saddle needs more attention with the white leather restorer / dye cream and a new pair of white leather toe straps have been ordered as these ones are rather knackered. I can't complain, though, as they have lasted almost 40 years...

The next thing to do will be to take it for a shake-down run but for that I'll wait until the rain stops; I'd rather do that bit of testing on a dry road surface............

Final snaps regarding this project. One 'Before' and the other 'After';

View attachment 820485

View attachment 820486
Philip.

That’s gorgeous! I very much coveted one of those when I was a teenager.

 

[Elybazza61]

Given up on getting the bb out so plan b with a different crankset but will do that another time and might go 9 rather than 10 speed as it's not straightforward or that cheap getting a suitable road 10 spd flat bar shifter to make the 9-speed xt mech work.

 

[pippy]

That’s gorgeous! I very much coveted one of those when I was a teenager.

Thank you for the nice comment.

Yes; I, too, coveted one as a teenager. Starting in my early 'teens I had a subscription to Cycling Weekly magazine and used to read about the exploits of the Holdsworth-Camagnolo team on pretty much a weekly basis. They made a deep impression on me.

The frame was a Christmas present from my parents in 1976 when I was 17. The chainset was my my 18th birthday present from them and the rest was bought, piecemeal, from Xmas '76 through to mid-November '77, using money received from various holiday / weekend jobs I managed to obtain.

Yesterday afternoon the weather did dry-up and we went out for the shakedown run. The 'bars needed to be straightened-up half-a-degree but other than that, I'm happy to say, it ran as sweet as a nut.

Philip.

 

[SuperGalactian]

Thank you for the nice comment.

Yes; I, too, coveted one as a teenager. Starting in my early 'teens I had a subscription to Cycling Weekly magazine and used to read about the exploits of the Holdsworth-Camagnolo team on pretty much a weekly basis. They made a deep impression on me.

The frame was a Christmas present from my parents in 1976 when I was 17. The chainset was my my 18th birthday present from them and the rest was bought, piecemeal, from Xmas '76 through to mid-November '77, using money received from various holiday / weekend jobs I managed to obtain.

Yesterday afternoon the weather did dry-up and we went out for the shakedown run. The 'bars needed to be straightened-up half-a-degree but other than that, I'm happy to say, it ran as sweet as a nut.

Philip.

These aren't my photos - I hope Mr Shonleben will forgive the liberty - but this shop was where - in the late 1960s - I used to stop to gaze at machines for which I could never have found the money. Perhaps yours came from here? Wonderful to have had it since your teens.

 

[pippy]

These aren't my photos - I hope Mr Shonleben will forgive the liberty - but this shop was where - in the late 1960s - I used to stop to gaze at machines for which I could never have found the money. Perhaps yours came from here? Wonderful to have had it since your teens.

Where to start?

I don't want to hi-jack this thread and hopefully won't bore you - nor any of the other members - with too many details but for several years in the '90s the Holdsworth shop on Lower Richmond Road, Putney, was my local bike shop. I lived in Barnes just half a mile or so to the west. I still have a H-Campagnolo (repro) team jersey which I bought from them at the time and, appropriately, which (unapologetically in a fit of Nostalgia) I wore for yesterday's Shake-down run.

I believe that Roy Thame was still the manager of the shop and was out-front serving 'the public' (myself included). I was, by that time, very familiar with the frames which carried his name but - in general as those times were fairly pre-www - I didn't know what he looked like nor of his remarkable contribution to the H-C team. I wish I had known...

My frame (# 001887) was bought from / in Dales Cycles who were, at the time, based on the Great Western Road in Glasgow and it was crafted in Holdsworth's 'Factory' which, by 1976, was based in Oakland Road, Anerley. As it happens I now live approximately 500 metres away from the site of those (now long-demolished) premises and also a mere 500m away from where Sandy Holdsworth lived (Lennard Road in Sydenham) when he founded the 'Holdsworthy' brand. Over the next few years Holdsworth had established several outlets within this same tiny area.

Small World...

....EDIT....

I had written a windbag-worthy screed (including a previously-drawn map!) about the links between Holdsworth, Charlie (and, later, Chas) Roberts, Claud Butler, Freddie Grubb and Ken Bird - all of whom have fundamental roots linked to this neighbourhood - but it was blatantly obvious that the resulting post would be of little interest to 99.99% of the members.

For anyone who wishes to know more of this history, however, let me know and I'll be happy to send some info.

Philip.