Blair P. Houghton wrote:
If it was a beater or a new bike, I'd consider it good exercise.
But this is my Holdsworth.
One slip, and 22 years of history, maybe 40k miles, dumped
on the junk-heap.

wrote:
I have a Holdsworth Super Mistral (Black/red panels), first "nice"
frame I ever bought new, 1980. I toured on it, and then used it for a
fixed gear bike and single-speed commuter. Probably not 40k miles, but
at least a lot of the paint is missing...

Yeah, "dogpiling". But maybe sharpening a point or two: My
understanding is that "coldsetting" stays for alignment is routinely
done after brazing, when new. I've been told and have read that some
mass-produced (in bike terms) frames were commonly cold-set by greater
amounts than what's being discussed here.
-snip-
Open to correction: I understand the later Holdsworths were furnace
brazed, which I guess would mean a minimum amount of constraint (no
jigs) on the tubes as they were joined. Then, coldset to take a wheel.
-snip-

Here's the later (final) Holdsworth facility on Oakfield
road; no 'furnace brazing'.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/hwfact.html

I didn't see any 'hearth brazing'(as it was called then)
when I was at the Putney facility in the early seventies
either.

My own '53 Raleigh _was_ built that way. It's been widened
and even de-pretzeled after an horrific crash but rides
straight to this day. Every day.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971