[CR] Baines Flying Gate

(Example: Racing:Jacques Boyer)

Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:35:04 +0000
From: "Norris Lockley" <nlockley73@googlemail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Baines Flying Gate


There were several models of the Flying gate design, including the International TT, the VS37, and the Whirlwind, although I think that the latter two might have been one and the same.

The International TT was in fact not a time-trial model, but a massed -start one, its wheelbase was fairly short for the era, at only 39.5 inches.The VS 37 was the shorter model and boasted a wheelbase of 37.75 inches...htese dimensions being obtained on frames that had an 11 inch bottom bracket height using 26 inch wheels. The TT model could be built to specification too, permitting longer rear triangles and wheelbases. Angles were 74 head and 72 seat.

I have both owned several of these frames and also built my own BESPOKE versions of them. Although the design might appear quirky, it does work, and can give a very stable and exhilerating ride. The vertical main strut allows the builder tremendous freedom to vary the seat tube angle and the length of the top tube. It also permits a very short rear triangle even with mudguards.

A fault on the design was the failure to braze a plate or bi-laminated joint at the point where the vertical meets the top-tube. On some older frames there is sometimes a noticeable bend at that point where the top-tube has bent down towards the seat cluster. More substantial secondary seat-stays would have prevented this slight fault. The other common fault with certain Baines gates is rust behind the seat tube and in between the chainstays. I found this on a number of frames, but friends had advised me that they had also experienced this problem.

Norris Lockley

Settle UK