Holdsworth

Holdsworth bought the business and brands of Freddie Grubb 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, Holdsworth also bought the rights to this brand in 1958. In 1963 the company bought the Macleans brand.[2]

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.

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, 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, a brand that Holdsworth had the rights to distribute in the UK.[2] The team's riders included Colin Lewis, who twice rode in the Tour de France, Tour of Britain 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.

531-753 Master Frame builders Roberts 60's (family) & Philip Frances Bingham/Crosby 1978-81

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 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 division of Tandem Group plc.[2] 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. [3] 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.