The orange and blue Holdsworth livery is a true British classic – the firm started building bikes way back in 1933. Holdsworth’s most iconic era was in the 1970’s with the Holdsworth-Campagnolo professional team, at the time the dominant force in British road racing.
Since British online specialist Planet X took control of the brand it's produced fantastic recreations of the classic Professional and Italia frames. The Corsa celebrates Holdsworth’s heritage, but wraps vintage livery around a cutting edge steel frame.
- Highs: Spec is outstanding for the money; ride is bang up to date and exciting too
- Lows: Its not the full ‘retro’ experience, tall gearing for endurance riding
- Buy if: You want a bike that harks back to the classic days of British racing, but with a thoroughly modern ride
The frame is built around Columbus steel and is testament to the frame builder’s art, with super smooth Tig welds throughout the oversized and shaped steel tubes. Up front it’s mated to a 300g full carbon fork also from Columbus. Its geometry owes much more to this century than the last, featuring an aggressive stance, with a 178mm head tube on this 57cm bike, and a 55.5cm top tube.
ADVERTISEMENT
That means when you get on board, the Holdsworth handles like a modern race bike. The shorter wheelbase and aggressive angles make for a true point-and-shoot responses – it’s nimble, sharp to turn in and fantastically responsive.
It has the character of a top class steel frame too, with the oversized tubes making it feel much stiffer than other retro machines such as the Creme Echo Tange and Raleigh Ti Replica we tested alongside it. Clever design touches – the horizontally ovalised top tube, for instance – have meant it has retained the spring and life you get from a quality steel, though. Over rough surfaces it dulls vibration rather than eliminating it.
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
via BikeRadar All the latest from BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/1HenTdK
No comments:
Post a Comment