There are only two colors for bikes.

Black is basic for a bicycle. It looks great and shows off the decals really well, too.

If you have a "go-fast" bike, painting it red will make it go faster.

Anything other than that is a mistake.

The world is full of colour why pick only two?

The world is full of bicycles, why only pick two?

Two.. three.... five..... seven.......ten.......

Holdsworths do come in red - Holdsworth Red Pearl
1982 Avanti

I believe in the late 70s a Professional bought as a frame-set could be ordered in any number of colors. There were a few tine traces of a very pretty aqua-ish blue under the repaint/reprimer, which might have been the frame's original color.... or possibly the original primer, but if that's the case the original primer was a great color!

Interesting- I just did a search for blue holdsworths and this came up. From the Holdsworth 'reboot' offerings, but very close to the paint traces on my frame...

I've found the original colour under the crown race, but it does mean removing it.
1961 Cyclone repainted blue but originally "Flamboyant Red" I'm guessing:

lol!

I told you so. I rest my case.

A few coats of tung oil, some wax.... There's something (unexpected, to my eye..) really cool and beautiful about the raw steel look. I've seen raw steel frames that have been media blasted, and there's something kind of cool about those, but they surface is so uniform it's a little boring. The mottled-ness and surface stains (and scars) and variations is appealing. My plan was that I would just keep the bike raw for this season and then have it painted, but now I'm kind of wishing I'd maybe lined the lugs in gold before oiling and said that was that. There's a kind of 'elegant rat-rod' vibe to it. Well, I can always do that down the line..... or go back to the original plan of paint. Basement light doesn't really capture the quality of the raw frame, but it's rain, rain, and rain for the next bunch of days..... I was thinking I'd go for a full Campy build, especially since I scored a nice Rally RD, but I know the Cyclone mechs with Retrofrictions will perform better (and be lighter!), so there it is.

Built up, tuned up, ready for the road. Of course it's barely 30 deg. F at the moment....

Did I miss a frame/fork serial number somewhere? In some thread? Thank you.

No, I never posted 'em. BB is 018780.

1979?

Source.

I bought the bike early last year after it had been sitting on FB marketplace locally for a long time. It wasn't ID'd as a Holdsworth in the ad, just as a vintage 'custom' bike. I had kind of convinced myself it was worth it for the parts and in communication with the seller he said the person he got it from had told him it was a Holdsworth. Looking close at the photos, geometry, braze-ons, Campy dropouts with portacatena holes, etc, I figured out it was a Pro from around '79. Used the BB# and info on nkilgariff site to confirm. The 2nd gen Cyclone mechs ended up on my Trek build, the Shimano 600 hubs got built into wheels for the Valgan (built up a set with Campy record hubs for this instead- and I may rebuild 'em with tubular rims...). I need to get some new sealed bearing for the Superbe pedals that were on it and move those on. In it's current 'elegant rat-rod' incarnation I'll stick with the 1st gen Cyclones, but if I end up painting it 'Holdsworth orange' I may put the Campy Rally RD I've got on it (and get a Campy FD) to be more true to it's original heritage.
As bought..