What you do think of my old Holdsworth Professional resurrected as a cyclocross bike?
 

I normally post on classic vintage but here is something you cyclocross people might be interested.

I have finally finished a project that I have been working on for a while. I resurrected my old warhorse Holdsworth Professional for 25 more years of serious riding. It will be used as a cyclocross bike and a very fine one at that. Here are pics.

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http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/3...103/124742.jpg

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/3...103/124723.jpg

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The reason the project took so long was that the old stem was frozen in the forks. I think that the last time I adjusted it was in the early 90s. After much trying to remove it by pulling it out I finally resorted to cutting it out. After that was done the rest was easy.

This bike is now somewhat of a mongrel but a proud mongrel with great heritage. The wheels are built from Campy Super Record 36 hole hubs laced to old Mavic MA40 700cm clincher rims. After polishing the hub's cones and races and replacing the bearings they now spin silky smooth. The front derailleurs are Suntour Superbe Pro. The last before indexing. The are shifted with old Suntour ratcheting type bar shifters. The freewheel is a 12-23 tooth 7 speed Suntour New Winner. The crankset is an old Sugino 110 bolt diameter double with 170 mm length crank arms. The chainrings are 48 and 34 tooth.

The reason I was able to make this bike into a cyclocross bike is the fact that it was built for 27" wheels. When using 700cm rims you have to use long reach brake calipers and you also have clearance room for fatter tires. My brake calipers are Campy Super Record. The saddle is a Rolls with titanium rails mounted on to a Campy two bolt seatpost.

The handlebar, stem, and brake levers are the only new components on the bike. The handlebars are 46cm wide Richey bolted onto a Dimension stem with a two bolt clamp. The brake levers are Tektro aero and Cane Creek cyclocross.

I just took it on my first off road ride today. It ran beautifully. The brakes work great. The gears shifted great. I was a little worried about the gears not being low enough for some of the hills I will be climbing. The lowest gear got me up the hill with about the same effort as the lowest mountain bike gears that I use to climb. This gearing set up will do me just fine.

Right now the frame's paint job looks rough. I have sanded some rust spots off and covered them with clear coat. I also have some other rust spots. For right now I just plan to ride this baby over the winter. Mostly cross country mountain biking on gravel, dirt, and logging type roads. Next year I plan on giving this frame the restoration and new paint job it deserves.

Lets here it to 25 more years of service out of my old Holdsworth Pro. What an awesome bike!!!!

I very much approve. Sweet.

I am trying to do the same with an old beat-up peugeot that i picked up. I am keeping the bars/stem/frame but cannibalized my time-trial bike to fully upgrade the read deraleur and bar-end shifters. Looks like I will have to buy a new front DD probably going to get a new crankset (the old one is fine but does not accept clipless pedals). Are you keeping the wheels on quick-release skewers or bolt them on?

Love it except for the bar end shifters, but i think those look tacky no matter what they are on.

Very cool! And, I LOVE the bar end shifters.

edit... what's with the pedals???

I'm just a beginner, but those brakes don't look to have near enough clearance for cross, unless you plan to only run on the sunny days. 2 minutes in the mud, and those things would be completely full.

I love it. It looks almost identically like my old peugeot that I have done the same thing with. I am currently running it single speed commuter but basically keep it around because it can do anything so well. Enjoy!

What are your thoughts for the paint job?