Holdsworth restoration: stage eight

The Holdsworth took its first trip today. I rode the bike the three miles into work to test the set-up. There are lots of things that will need attention before October. The seat height and angle are wrong; the left pedal sticks slightly and the gear and brake cables are stiff, gummy and badly routed. These things I can fix. (It doesn't warrant a posting of its own but as you'll see from the close-up I've already fixed the most annoying fault by clamping the flapping brake cable to the top tube with some nice little campagnolo clips bought from ebay.)

Some things I’ll just need to get used. The bike is twice as heavy and half as stiff as my Bianchi 928 and there is also much less ‘attack’ in the riding position. I’m hoping this will prove conducive to slow steady riding over 205km. The bars feel very narrow and spindly and the metal hoods are a bit unforgiving. I don’t want to change the look of the bike but I’ll need to experiment with bars, tapes, hood covers and gloves to see what works – especially on the strade bianchi.

Other than that the bike rides well, tracks nicely (at a fairly conservative pace), shifts properly and appears reasonably responsive.