Originally Posted by
jimhagan
Hi Oldpeddler,
Ken was a bit of a self-publicist hence the book if you get my drift, he may well have offered his services to all and sundry, but on The Tour de France it was Harry Hall who was the head British Team Mechanic and I think Ken probably learnt a lot from him which in due course got passed on to me by Ken in respect of wheel-building which is what he was really known for at that time. I have not seen the book but would be interested to see a copy.
I went on The Tour of Britain (Milk Race) as a mechanic in the Holdsworthy neutral service car where you could attend to any rider who did not have their own service car available I also hung out of the car trying to adjust Reg Barnetts gears going up the Brecon Beacons!
Another correction is that Roy Thame did not build frames himself, but he did own the Holdsworth shops along with his wife Alma and some time later did have frames built with his name on. I have a feeling that Ron Cooper may have built the frames as he also had an association with The Holdsworth Team which was run by Roy Thame, but the team bikes were built and supplied by The Holdsworthy Co. and Ron Cooper who was then employed by Holdsworthy built the team frames in the new Holdsworthy factory at Burbage Road Penge, the original factory being in Lullington Road.
Ron Cooper was a real craftsman and even had his own prototyping area within the factory for new models.
In fact a row blew up over Roy Thame having bikes built with the Holdsworth name on which was owned by The Holdsworthy Co. and he was told to stop doing so, which is why he decided to have bikes with his own name instead. Many people get confused over the relationship of the Holdsworth shops and Holdsworthy which were in fact two different companies but with an common parentage doing a search for Holdsworth on Google will explain.
I knew Les West very well as he was a sales rep for Holdsworthy (even Les would agree that he was not the best salesman!) a very nice guy who could have made a name for himself abroad but preferred to race in the UK.
Hope this all helps,
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for the info - the more I find out about the British frame builders and stars of "my" era, the more there is to learn! Les West was a boyhood hero to myself and my friends, not a week went by without some mention in the cycling press - or so it seems now! Good to hear from someone who knew him. I saw the Milk Race go past: we were given time out of school to stand at the roadside and if the Holdsworthy car you rode in was a Ford Corsair, I may have seen you at work! All the best.