I got a Bates

I got another bike:
It's a Bates which is an old British builder. Or is it? (my frame that is) I can't find any info on this Bates but there are 2 other Bates framebuilders from Britain and I'm not sure if its either of them yet. Whatever its a nice looking frame. I can't use it as its too small. I "liberated" it from an OpShop.

I might stick it on eBay if its worth anything otherwise its on my mantelpiece.

I have my "expert" (my Dad) looking at photos of it to tell me if its any good.

I stripped it down to the frame and will take some better photos at some point soon.

I like the bars. The Stem is *interesting *too.

Paintwork is rad. I'm not repainting it no matter what I could never afford a paint job as intricate as that.

Everything else on the frame is junk or too old and fucked (bar the bars, stem and front Hub).

Lol at the freewheel:

why have bearings when you can have bent metal rod!

I should probably post this too seeing as I've posted my Flickr and you're bound to find it:

It's a Fixed/5 speed hub. A bit of an oddity. It's also kinda ugly.
It's from an old bike back in England. The bike cost £0 to build up and was worth about the same. I folded the front wheel going off a kerb:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brob/tags/bentwheel/
I did enjoy riding it for a while too though.

See also "My" yellow Paragon

Bump for evening peeps

it's English yes...you'll find the guys at the V-cc very useful for information about it.
http://www.v-cc.org.uk/
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/
I really hope you don't strip it and junk all the parts as it is a beautiful period bike and many of the parts are valueable even though they might have a little surface rust (surface rust doesn't nessarily mean that the part needs to go in the trash). The cranks are chater lea and are beautiful and quite rare/valuable....the hubs might be airlite's under all that grime. how about asking the veteran cycle club about the best way to restore it, and clean/service all the parts and keep it together....

Yeah, those cranks and the chainring are lovely.

here's some more info. if you can find the serial number (BB shell or dropouts maybe?) then you'll be able to tell
if it's an EG Bates or a Bates of Westcliffe...it looks early like an EG.

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/reclassicbikes/Bates_Cantiflex_Home.html

hubs could also be bayliss wiley flip flops. hope you keep it and enjoy it...

Hey. Thanks for replying.

I'm afraid the bike has already been stripped down. I've not got room to keep another bike in my flat. Don't worry though I'm not actually ever gonna throw any of this stuff away. Heavens above! Some of the bits are just unusable or I don't have a bike to use them on.

I've been to the
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/reclassicbikes/Bates_Cantiflex_Home.html
page already. I should contact the guy who made it and send him pics of my frame.

I'd already concluded that if it was one of the Bates brothers then it would be an EG frame. Thing is it says it was made in Thornbury by L Bates:

To the best of my recollection Thornbury is near Bristol and I'm yet to find a mention of L Bates.
Seeing as the Bates brothers between them were only in London and Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex.

I did think for a minute it was from Thornbury, Victoria, Australia (about 45 mins bike ride from here) but its stamped British Made on the underside of the BB.

Also on all the EG Bates frames I've seen they have the same style graphics which don't match mine which is odd.

BTW the hubs are different. Low flange at rear (flip flop - no name), High flange at front (hub is stamped "Normandy" Made in France).

The Rims seem pretty shit. Araya chrome something or others. They look amazingly like the rims I used to have on an old Raleigh MTB that cost me £10 in the late 90's - it was shit.

BTW the crank arms are stamped "PWB". They're a little worse than surface rusted. The metal is pitted and rough from extended rusting. I'd not trust them to ride on. They could be blasted and rechromed though but they're never gonna have a smooth look to them again.

The chainwheel is only surface rust. I didn't know about it being a "chater lea" though. Thanks for that. I'll clean it up with wire soap at some point and polish it up.

I wish the bars and stem had something stamped on them. I really want to know more about them.

Brakes are ok but not period.

As for using the frame. It's far too small for me. I'm 6 foot 6 and I already have back problems. If I wasn't leaving Australia to come back to the UK in 5 months then I'd keep it until I found someone I could build it up for or just keep it to hang on the wall.

I'll possibly try and sell it on ebay to buy some new bits for my bike though. The only problem to that though is I found a 1cm wide dent on the top tube when I was cleaning the frame.

I'll get some better shots at the weekend when its sunny and I'm not at work.

Gag's Aussie "Bates" example: http://users.tpg.com.au/adsl4xun/

Bates info: http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders/bates.html

"stamped British Made on the underside of the BB."

This could just mean the BB shell is British made.

This guy has my chainwheel!

Thought I'd better update this. My Dad came to visit and took the frame back with him along with the chainset and bars. He'd packed so little that it was covered by his luggage allowance.

He sold it at a bike jumble about 3 months later. Got about £40 which seems incredibly anti-climactic. Although its still a profit on the $10 I paid.

God my Sofa in Aus was ugly.