I previously posted about this bike, and my consideration of doing a 650b conversion with it. Decided to heed the general advice to not go the 650b route, and instead keep it a stripped-down, 700c, nice-days/nice-roads ‘go fast’ (whatever that really means these days….) bike. I wasn’t sure it’d be a keeper, but after putting some miles on it built-up with a semi-stripped frame I’m feeling that it is a keeper- it's a nice, lively and fun ride. So now I’m thinking about how to finish it. I’m not too concerned with resale- I got it cheap, it’s already been repainted at least once- so it’s kinda more about aesthetics. I really don’t like orange, but orange is the iconic Holdsworth color… Thing is, I’m 95% sure the frame is a ’79, and from what I can gather that’s right about when Holdsworth went from the classic orange-with-kingfisher blue-panels to orange with more basic block lettering… So do I hew to year-accuracy and do orange with the block lettering? Go for year-incorrect-but-iconic orange with the blue panels/decals? Or maybe say to heck with it and go with whatever color I feel like (probably a blue….)? I’m pretty sure this was originally sold as a frameset, which could be had in a color of the customer’s choice (there are traces of a very pretty aqua-marine blue in some spots)… Decisions, decisions…

current state of affairs...



The 'iconic'....





...the 'correct'.....




...the 'what the hell, I'll do what I want' (or something like it...)...