BikeP0RN: Keith Lambert’s Holdsworth 70’s bike

A trip down memory lane with a look at Keith Lambert’s Holdsworth 70’s championship winning bike – steel frame, Campagnolo groupset and more

BikeP0RN: Keith Lambert’s Holdsworth 70’s bike

I started racing in 1973 in Nowra in New South Wales, Australia and there, we’d get the comic (Cycling Weekly) months after publishing (or at last it seems like it was) and I remember reading about a British rider (one of many of course) called Keith Lambert.

This is his 1974 championship winning bike when he rode for the original Holdsworth team and it reminds me so much of the bikes we had then with its Reynolds tubing, Campy groupset etc. Keith also worked with Brian Stephens, who I raced with, at GB where Keith at 70 is still the team coach/DS and Brian is moving on to a pro team. I interviewed Keith recently and we spoke about the old days and his link with Brian.

Interview with Keith Lambert here

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Steel is Real is the saying and back in the 70’s Reynolds or Columbus were two of the popular options. Notice the saddle height … I was always told to have at least a ‘fist’ (wrapped around the seatpost) of clearance to the top tube … bit different to nowadays!

High flange hubs for added stiffness … I had low flange hubs myself and high flange on the track wheels

The 1974 champions jersey for Keith Lambert

Just as I remember it, ‘Campy’ chainset and derailleurs – on those days, Campagnolo was more popular than Shimano (or least seemed to be where I was) although there were cheaper alternatives such as Sun Tour, Stronglight, Huret, or just expensive, Zeus and others I’ve forgotten!

Tough legs in those days … no big 28 sprockets LoL … just pedalling squares up the steep hills on the six speed blocks… notice the drop outs are missing the little adjusters so when you put your wheel in, it was always centre ….

Toe clips and straps … Binda straps were my favourite. Was shock when I went away from racing for a few years and came back to find they had been replaced with clipless