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...)...

Go with the what-the-heck colorway IMO.

I say do what you want without regard to history.

Slightly off topic-I have been looking at my Rough Stuff Fellowship archive book again recently and noticed that there are several folks riding a Holdsworth. It has made me want one.

All seem like nice choices, I've seen more Holdsworths in the orange-with-panels than any other color, and the "Gulf Racing" blue/orange looks great. Or, you could keep in touch with the OP of this topic: RED PEARL -- beautiful paint and apparently a valid Holdsworth finish?

the periwinkle blue and orange (Gulf racing livery) is hot.

Myself, I would keep that finish that you have. It is more elegant than any of the other motifs in the illustrations. I would get some white-font decals that are a nice script, like Freehand 575 or Cateneo. Can we get a close-up in good light of the present paint job?

Ha, the 'paint job' it currently has is in fact a 'not-paint-job', just what's left of some very tenacious primer. It had a very poor, very thick, plastic-y black paint job when I got it- I was able to literally scrape 90% of it off in long ribbons. There's still a bit of the black left here and there, like on the BB cable guides. The primer is going to require blasting or serious elbow grease to remove, though there are some bare-metal spots in places. I wanted to get a feel for how it rode, so I wiped it down with some linseed oil and built it up. I suppose I could get all the oil off and just clear-coat it as-is for a sort of rat-rod appearance, but.... I kinda like pretty bikes, so I think I'll end up painting it/having it painted/powder-coated. But of course, there's no reason really that I have to adhere to a Holdsworth motif...

It is still more elegant than the other choices pictured. I'd go with a rose-pink sparkle finish and some nice white, under-stated script on the down-tubes.

"Excuse me, do you stock a bike rack for the back of my Ford GT40?"

YMMV, but "a stripped-down, 700c, nice-days/nice-roads ‘go fast’ (whatever that really means these days….) bike" deserves a color scheme with a bit more flash than the photo in post #1. A 650B, laid-back tourer would be a different story.

Did Holdsworth do the orange thing before Merckx/Molteni? I forget who came first.

I dunno about rose pink (but I do recall an Austro Daimler back in the day that was a rose sparkle that was spectacular.....), but I do agree about the full Holdsworth livery being somewhat less-than-elegant. My aesthetics definitely don't tend toward logos & labels all over the place. I was sort of feeling some sort of 'responsibility' to an iconic look, even if I don't actually like the look!

I think Molteni was first, but somewhat different shades of orange...

Ha- well this definitely ain't a laid-back tourer!

It is a Holdsworth, but not mine. My color scheme if I ever get a 60cm Holdsworth Pro. [MENTION=540222]ehcoplex[/MENTION]: Does this match the shade of aqua?

edit: unless I can twist an arm.

This color scheme.

It's close, color-wise, but the spots where it is on the frame aren't where the panels are (ie, by the drop-outs, part of the fork, seat-tube) which leads me to think the whole frame was a solid-color blue/aqua. And by '75 or '76, apparently chrome got expensive, so the socks/fork were painted. Too bad, I love chrome socks/forks! The full-wrap seat stay caps, and the pin-striping on them, of the above era are really cool!

yeah, that's the 'iconic'..... Cool head-set bottle-cage mount

I made that from a CatEye reflector mount. I didn't want to mess up the paint or decals with one that clamped on. I tried a couple different handlebar mounted bottle holders but they didn't look right.

Basement lighting is definitely not ideal for color accuracy.... Bits of the blue/aqua visible in places- the most on the seat tube, but for whatever reason that's where the color reproduces the poorest/palest. Still some of the black plasticy paint left to get off here and there. About to tear it down in prep for whatever finish direction things end up going in..

Hmmm. That first photo makes me think of going with a Walnut scheme.

Clever. It looks like it does not interfere with any hand positions on the bars.

It doesn't interfere at all. It works quite well.

After the Valgan I did last summer I swore, SWORE, I'd never strip a frame chemically/by hand again..... But, well, after striking out on finding a blaster locally who would do it.... Several hours with "5-Minute Stripper", steel wool and a Dremel wire brush..... My hands are aching, and I'll need some ibu for my back later, but it's down to bare steel. And it looks pretty damn cool (IMO). I'm going to wipe it down with several coats of either linseed or tung oil, let it cure a bit, and build her up for the season. Maybe I'll stay with the rat-rod/steampunk look, but more likely I'll get it painted next winter.

Holdsworth in 1967.

If it was my bike, I would certainly go with the orange/blue option. It IS the classic combo for this bike, and I think that it looks great. But unlike the op, I do like orange bikes. I would never consider riding a bike with a finish I donīt like. So if the op donīt like orange, then orange is out in my opinion. I think the way to go, is to look at what other options were originally available, and simply choose the one the op likes best. If the bike is believed to be from the period where they were transitioning the graphics, I feel it would be right to simply choose the most appealing graphics.