Cycling UK Forum

Can anyone point me in the right direction ,for the frame colour and type of transfers /decals and positioning of them . I have recently obtained this bike in a very rusty condition and I am hoping to get it cleaned and painted .

Could have been "celestial blue".
https://www.nkilgariff.com/HoldsModelPages/LaQuelda.htm
Click on the La Quelda Club advert.

And here's one ten years later:
https://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/r ... elda-1949/

Thanks for the links that give me an idea where the Transfers /decals should go but I am afraid the colour is a very light orange going by what little paint is remaining even though it is 94 years old .

There's some info on Classic Rendezvous, both about Holdsworth in general and La Quelda in particular

https://classicrendezvous.com/country-o ... oldsworth/

I don't know how to link this more precisely than that so you will have to scroll down. It's made a bit more complicated by there being two items abut La Quelda - a reproduction of an original catalogue sheet and then some adverts from that era.

I've not ploughed through it all so there may be some nuggets of info elsewhere

Ideally, somebody may be able to point you to a Holdsworth marque expert who curates info. One possible problem is that unlike some other well-known makers, Holdsworth continued to thrive for quite a long time: they were buying up some of the others

When I was looking for transfers for a '61 Holdsworth I discovered that Planet X own the brand and don't allow the reproduction of "their" trademark.
Disgraceful IMO

LLoyds list Holdsworth transfer/decals with no reference to Planet X, The Veteran-Cycle Club hold a copy of the 1939 catalogue on their web site only available to members.
I the heyday of light weight frame builders very few, if any, bikes bikes were assembled to the specifications in the builders catalogue. Riders would specify the equipment that they wanted and could afford, often changing equipment from one bike to another, this also goes for finishes.
If you want to restore the bike to 1939 condition the V-CC is worth joining.

papet33 wrote: ↑10 Nov 2023, 3:40pm Thanks for the links that give me an idea where the Transfers /decals should go but I am afraid the colour is a very light orange going by what little paint is remaining even though it is 94 years old .

According to the first link I gave, they made (in 1939 at least) three versions of La Quelda, of which the Club was blue, the Flyer and Supreme allowed you to choose your own colour. Presumably from a set palette. So...

Well I had thought that it was a Club but it has always been a light orange colour and hopefully I can get it as close to its original colour as possible , I had always been told it was my Dad's racing bike but as he used to deliver offical documents around the south of the uk during the second world war maybe that was its use .

papet33 wrote: ↑11 Nov 2023, 3:08pm Well I had thought that it was a Club but it has always been a light orange colour.......

in which case it cant be a 1939 'club' model.....?.........

I can't get away from the feeling that you are looking for confirmation of your own preconceptions. The reality IMO is that in the understandable absence of a good colour pic of of the bike in its original livery, then getting a tiny sample of the vestiges of remaing finish expertly analysed is your only option to have any hope of certainty. Even with that, I wonder if you might still be unconvinced.

And for what?

Also, you don't seem to have understood how much the sport has changed over the decades eg even top riders having one all-purpose bike whose frame was built to their personal spec and then renovated as and when often with a new paint job