What a beautiful bike, and a great colour scheme!
I have a Volante, which I bought from Ray Etherton in 2000. Ray had the frames built by Ron Cooper, then checked them, and do any fine tuning o f the finish, on their return in the bare metal, and then they were sen t to Argos to be painted, and to have the transfers applied.
My Volante has lugwork which differs in some respects from those produced u nder Martin Coopland's ownership, but I don't know whether the pattern ch anged before Ray sold the rights to Martin, or after.
I have some great memories of buying my Bates and its components (a mix of Campagnolo Super and Nuovo Record components, but with TA pedals and Royc e hubs) from Ray, not least of which was his introducing me to the Vetera n-Cycle Club, and to the delights of old bicycles.
Neil Foddering Weymouth, Dorset, England
> Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:16:42 -0800
> From: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]pics of New Bates
>
> While I was at it yesterday, I took some pics of the Ron Cooper built N
ew B
> ates, which like the Caygill, I unboxed last weekend after three year
s in s
> torage.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/
>
> Ron Cooper produced this with classic Bates features - Cantiflex tubes,
Dia
> drant forks, Volante fancy lugs.
>
> The frame has a few inches chromed at the ends of forks and stays. The p
> ump holder is brazed behind the seattube. The dynamo mount is brazed t
> o the rear of the left fork blade, as I discussed in an earlier thread.
> This requires the Busch & Muller dynamo to be a "Right Hand" version,
a
> s a "Left Hand" version would be used at the front of the left fork. I
> did not remember this, but the dynamo is in fact RH, which means eit
her it
> was dumb luck, or I had a discussion I have since forgotten about this
at
> the time. I may have bought this from Peter White, who would have prob
ab
> ly made sure I got the correct one.
>
> The racks were provided by Martin Coopland. I believe they were stoc
> k items made in UK, but were painted to match the frame by Ron Cooper o
r wh
> oever did the painting. Did Cooper usually paint his own frames? Th
> e racks are mounted to Weinmann stainless steel mudguards - these babies
ar
> e pretty heavy but very strong.
>
> Components include TA Cyclotourist triple with Phil Wood BB. TA road ped
> als, ALE gold anodized toeclips. Simplex SLJ triple FD, Huret Duopar
Ti
> RD, Simplex Retrofriction DT shifters. Mafac gold anodized Competition
s
> and levers with full hoods. GB "map of Britain" randonneur bars and GB B
> iba stem, Stronglight A9 HS. Matrix Titan rims on Bullseye hubs - the
re
> d anodized hubs are a pretty good match for the frame. 32 x 700C Panarac
> er Paselas.
>
> B&M Lumotec dynamo front light, but a battery light at the rear. The r
ea
> r racks current carry the beautiful Gilles Berthoud shopper panniers.
>
> This bike was purchased from Martin Coopland, when he held the rights t
o th
> e Bates brand. I understand the rights have now passed back to Ray Ethert
> on, but I don't know if he has actually produced any since he regained
the
> rights. I'm told Ron Cooper is now retired, so Ray would have to find
an
> other framebuilder. Anyone know what Ray's plans are? It's been sugge
> sted to me offlist that very few of these new Bates were ever actually ma
de
> , far fewer than I had believed, even combining those produced under
Ethert
> on and Coopland. Anyone know the actual number?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA