Holes in seat stay

[Rhythm Thief]

A few months back I was at a bike jumble and was unable to resist the lure of a tatty old Holdsworth frame set for a tenner. It's quite a nice frame under the scruffy paintwork - 531 and Campag dropouts - but it has three small holes in the rear seat stay. They appear to have been put there deliberately, possibly for a dynamo mount or something similar. Can I "fix" these with metal filler and a rattle can, or do I need to be thinking of having them brazed?

 

[Paulus]

How bizarre.
There doesn't appear to be any cracking of the stay radiating from the holes, except some scratches to the paintwork, what's left of it.
Ideally get the holes brazed, but quite possibly some sort of filler would do the job.

 

[midlife]

Yep, a bit odd. If its 531 the stays are quite sturdy. As above ideally get them brazed but filler will probably do.

BITD frame tubes were slotted to save a few grams of weight. The frame equivalent of drillium. Yep, the frame tubes as well as the lugs lol. Usually the chain stays and the head tube.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Yep, a bit odd. If its 531 the stays are quite sturdy. As above ideally get them brazed but filler will probably do.

BITD frame tubes were slotted to save a few grams of weight. The frame equivalent of drillium. Yep, the frame tubes as well as the lugs lol. Usually the chain stays and the head tube.

My dad used to go out with one of the cycling clubs in Bahrain back in the early 2000s. At first, he used his old eighties Peugeot road bike, but when he upgraded he gave it to a friend. This friend promptly drilled a series of holes in the frame tubes "to make it lighter". In the brief period that it was rideable before it collapsed, it was known on club runs as "the flute" because it whistled as it was ridden.

 

[Vantage]

There were quite a few stories in the late 90's about folk drilling holes in the handlebars to save weight also. Mental.

 

[Paulus]

There were quite a few stories in the late 90's about folk drilling holes in the handlebars to save weight also. Mental.

Drilliam in the 60's and 70's was a big thing for time trialists in particular. Handle bars and chain rings were often drilled out.

 

[Marchrider]

looks like an idiot has been trying to fit something and kept drilling in the wrong place - what a mess

 

[wafter]

looks like an idiot has been trying to fit something and kept drilling in the wrong place - what a mess

Yup - that frame appears cursed with the mark of the bellend.

Personally I'd want it braized if I was entertaining the idea of riding it..