Holdsworth was a
bicycle manufacturer in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England. It was created by William Frank Holdsworth, known as "Sandy", and the brand is now owned by
Planet X Limited
Planet X is a bicycle company based in Rotherham, in the north of England. It was founded in 1988 by Dave Loughran and, in 2020, became an employee-owned trust.
Planet X operates a number of brands including On-One components and Titus bikes.
P ...
based in
Rotherham
Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
.
History
![Holdsworth Bicycle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Holdsworth_Bicycle.jpg)
Sandy Holdsworth took over Ashlone Cycle Works at 132 Lower Richmond Road,
Putney
Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
History
Putney is an ancient paris ...
, southwest
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1927.
Holdsworth continued to work during the day in his
life insurance business, and appointed his wife's brother, Owen Bryars, as manager.
The shop mechanic, Jack Capeling, made the first Holdsworth frames there around the end of the 1920s, using a shed behind the building. The company expanded by the end of 1930, it had further premises at 121 Lennard Rd,
Beckenham
Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
; 185 Markhouse Road,
Walthamstow; and 5 Thesiger Road,
Penge
Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross.
History
Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Pence ...
.
Holdsworth's wife, Margaret, came from a family in the clothing business. The clothing background appears relevant because Holdsworth began advertising cycling garments and shoes under the brand name Worthy. The company was better regarded for clothes than for frames until the arrival in 1938 of an established frame-builder, Bill Hurlow.
Hurlow arrived at the time of an internal dispute, which led the manager, Owen Bryars, to open a rival shop across the road, and another in Beckenham, south London.
The original company formed a subsidiary, Holdsworthy Factoring, which built W.F. Holdsworth bicycles and wholesaled British-made parts and those it began importing from the continent.
Mass market
Holdsworth bought the business and brands of
Freddie Grubb
Frederick Henry Grubb (27 May 1887 – 6 March 1949) was a British road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He won silver medals in the individual road race and the team road race. In 1914, after he retired from racing, he ...
in 1952 from the Grubb family who were still running the cycle business of Freddie Grubb after his demise. After the business of
Claud Butler had gone
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, Holdsworth also bought the rights to this brand in 1958. In 1963 the company bought the Macleans brand.
By the time Sandy Holdsworth died on 28 August 1961, the company had grown too large to build the individual frames that racing cyclists were demanding. The division of operation was made clearer when Owen Bryars died in 1958, with the company acquiring his shops which had sold mass-produced Holdsworth bikes, whilst the individual orders were handled by frame-builder Reg Collard at 132 Lower Richmond Road & the Holdsworth own custom builders of 753 P(Fran)Bingham-Crosby in 1978 to 1980's at the (Shed) workshop Crampton Rd.
Marketing
Holdsworth became a national name in British cycling through both its catalogue, "Aids to Happy Cycling", later renamed "Bike Rider's Aids", and through its professional team.
In 1953 Holdsworth had appointed a former sailor, Roy Thame, who had worked at a cycle shop in
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a new ...
,
Hertfordshire, where he lived. Working for the company for more than 50 years, Thame established and managed the dominant professional cycling team that the company co-sponsored with
Campagnolo accessories of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, a brand that Holdsworth had the rights to distribute in the UK.
[ The team's riders included Colin Lewis, who twice rode in the ]Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
, Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time.
The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...
winner Les West and British National Champion Gary Crewe.
Thame also managed the Great Britain teams in world championships, served on British Cycling Federation committees nationally and acted as commissaire, or chief referee, on domestic multi-day races such as the Tour of the West.
Reynolds tubing
531-753 Master builders
Reg Collard, Roberts(family), Bill Hurlow, Philip Frances Bingham/Crosby 1978-81
Present
After the death of Mrs Margaret Holdsworth in the 1970s, the company was split in two.
The wholesale and mass-production side of the business called the Holdsworth Company, which owned the rights to all of the brands, stayed in the Holdsworth family. A change in cycling tastes from road to mountain bikes, general foreign competition through cheap imports from Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
and a sequence of management difficulties led to it being sold to rival bicycle manufacturer Elswick Hopper plc in the mid-1980s. The residual brands of this side of the company are today part of the Falcon Cycles
Falcon Cycles is a British bicycle manufacturer which was based in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, owned by Tandem Group.
History
In the 1880s, Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek Ltd was established in Coventry as a manufacturer of bicycles. In 1897, the c ...
division of Tandem Group plc.[ A new Holdsworth Professional road bike was announced in January 2011, using the famous orange and blue colour scheme.
Roy Thame inherited two-thirds of the company, effectively inheriting the specialist retail division of the company known as W.F. Holdsworth with a shop at 132 Lower Richmond Road, Putney. After a period selling just low to mid-range mountain and hybrid bikes, it tried to resurrect some of the Holdsworth heritage by selling road bikes, including some top-end frames (e.g. De Rosa) and reintroduced some Holdsworth branded road bikes and clothing. Roy Thame died aged 85 in 2006.
As of December 2013 the shop has closed and is being converted into flats. The Holdsworth Brand was purchased by Planet X Bikes and at L'Eroica Britannia in 2015 a new Heritage range of Holdsworth bikes was launched. ] developed by Jamie Burrow and Lorenzo Altissimo.
In 2016 Holdsworth worked with master frame builder Mark Reilley and Reynolds to bring the Reynolds 753 tubing back into production creating a rare opportunity to purchase this tube set.
See also
* List of companies based in London
This is a list of companies in London, England. London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. With an estimated 8,308,369 residents in 2012, London is the most populous region, urban zone and metropolitan area in the United ...
References
External links
Official website
Nkilgariff Archive Site – W.F.Holdsworth, FH Grubb, Claud Butler
Holdsworth: British Reliability, Personified
{{British bicycle manufacturers
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1927
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1987
Vehicle manufacture in London
Cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Manufacturing companies based in London