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Still have some Genuine Reynolds Bates Tubesets for sale. Top, Seat, and Down tubes, £63 plus postage

Phone 01249 814071. or p.m.

Bates Cantiflex tube set (top, down and seat) plus Diadrant fork blades and Rigida mudguard bosses. All new and immaculate.

£125 plus p. & p. p.m. or 'phone 01249 814071 or 07976 885316

Re the Harry Butler 'Opus', I would like it on record that the tubeset for the frame did not come from me.
As for the Diadrant fork blades, they look like Harry Lauder's walking stick. What a mess!

Black Charge Spoon Saddle for sale. Excellent condition. less than 100 miles. £15.50 plus p.&/p.

p.m. or phone 07976 885316 - charlie

I'll try and arrange some during the week.

Sorry for the omission £120 - plus postage

charlie

Set of new Bates Cantiflex tubes and Bates pattern diadrant fork blades complete with Rigida mudguard bosses.

p.m.please. thanks for reading, charlie

My apologies for my breach of protocol. It won't happen again. In mitigation, it is not me who is selling the Bates frame parts, although the tubes did come from me originally.

Bates Cantiflex tube set (item no. 290340442244) and Bates pattern Diadrant Fork Blades (item no. 29034044091) on Ebay - finishes Sunday.
Cheer, charlie

The controversial frame is a Viking SBU, not an USB. SBU standing for Short Base Underslung. The theory behind it was to try and deal with the lateral and torsional stresses saparately, hence the bracket being mounted in that position. Jack Robinson, who was the Head builder at Viking built me one in the '90s (when he was 83!), but I got seriously skint and had to sell it before trying out properly.

Ian Steele, who won the Tour of Britain in the early 50s was the first to ride an SBU which he did quite successfully in hill climbs. He said it was great to ride, and VERY rigid after they put on the extra set of stays. With only seat and chainstays, it had a habit of shedding it's chain. I've still got the photo of my bike autographed by Ian and Bobby Thom who was the Viking Team Manager. I suppose one of the reasons it did not get the sales it deserved was that the frame was not very practical for riding to work during the week.

charlie

I thought that the lack of female fixed riders may have been be because they traditionally rode open framed bikes. However I spoke to a lady cycling acquaintance who assured me that many of her biking friends like nothing better than spending their weekends astride a Gent's 21"!

Hiya.

Love the Taiwanese frame. The lugs are investment cast by a firm called Long-Shen. Forget about cheap Chinese rubbish. This is top quality workmanship. The recent British Fancy lugged frames used Haden blanks, very cheap pressed steel items - you know, the kind of thing that made Britain great! If we want to be taken seriously in the world, this is the standard we have to achieve.

Hiya, Don't have a small ring, but I've got a pair of Gnutti steel cranks complete with splined bottom bracket axle. Rechromed and looking nice - very collectable. PM if interested.

charlie

I used to collect classic British bike stuff. What do the forum members think will be the classics in ten years? The only contenders I've seen are foreign, top of the list being Phil Wood Hubs.

This may be because it's my old fashioned tastes, so lets have your views.

charlie

Did you know Jimmy Saville was an extra in that film. Strangely, it's very highly regarded in the French cinema.It has a list of British stars as long as your arm.

That frame is an Ephgrave No. 1 probably late 50's

HI,
You should be able to get Grubb Transfers from H. Lloyd Cycles in Penrith.

JackT was less than happy with my criticism of a frame Ron Cooper built for me. As an ex-collector of British Lightweight Classics, I have a great affection for the small framebuilding firms. I have to say, though, that I have had my share of real dogs. Among the older frames which have been disappointing, I must rate my beautiful Paris Galibier as the worst, closely followed by a small Les Ephgrave which seemed to have a total aversion to climbing hills.
I've also had bad frames built, the worst of which was a Jack Taylor curved seat tube model which I bought for my wife. She rode it three times, then went back to her favourite Stan Pike.
Am I unique in having bad experiences with frame builders, or are there other people who have also had troubles?

I'm with you on that point bluah, but I reckoned that a helmet would not degrade at the same speed in a lightproof box, unused. The fact is that a helmet will officially only be of any use if you are travelling at less than 12mph and NOT in an incident with another vehicle. I'm sixty-four and I travel faster than that!

I looked for a helmet last year, and couldn't understand why a £120 helmet was tested to the same standard as the £7.50 ones in Wilkinsons. Answer, they are all equally crap. The only tests that Brit helmets have to pass is the ones set by the manufacturers themselves, who allegedly carry out the testing themselves. I eventually looked on ebay and bought a NOS Bell helmet, Snell approved, with the right sticker inside. It's a bastard to adjust, but at least it has been tested to a higher standard. It's got to be because the helmets approved for British use are ILLEGAL in US.The Bell cost me £10 with money back guarantee if it didn't fit.

Want a reason for buying a helmet? A court recently reduced the compensation paid out to a seriously injured cyclist by 15% because he didn't have a helmet on. Don't give the buggers the chance to screw YOU. Why don't we lobby for a helmet design which is comfortable, affordable, hasthe Snell 95 standard - and doesn't make you look like a total prick.
charlie

Please note that the comments in this reply refer only to the frame which Ron built for me. It is not intended as a criticism of his work in general.
Thirteen years ago I asked Ron to build a prototype frame which I had designed. He said it was no problem and quoted three to four weeks delivery.I paid for the work in kind, ie frame tubes etc. the value of the goods was about £325, frame to be delivered unpainted. Remember, this was 1996, and a trade build was costing approx £150 plus parts - I know this because Ron had built several frames for an associate and myself in the previous year.
I had made contact with the editor of an American magazine who was willing to do an article about the frame, (helped by me presenting him with a very rare headbadge which cost me an arm and a leg to have re-enamelled), only snag was that photos would not do - the frame had to be sent over to the States.
A month passed, and I had not heard from Ron. I telephoned and Ron told me he was waiting for a special part for his frame jig which he said was necessary to build my frame. This was strange because the frame had been designed to be an easy job for a skilled builder with no special formers or jigs. Later, I saw on a website that he claimed not to use a framejig anyway.
The frame was delivered more than a year late. My contact in the States had moved on, and the (only) two provisional orders I had for the frame had been withdrawn months earlier.
As it turned out, it was just as well because the frame was built to a very low standard. The lugs had not been filed, the brazing was untidy, the chainstays which were round section which were to be crimped to a thin oval to round section were not symetrical, one being crimped thinner than the other. The top eyes, which Len Phipps had hand-cut for me and the top of which formed a kind of 'S' shape along the top tube were not brazed in the right place and one 'S' was 1/4" further along the top tube than the other.The bi-laminations for the bottom bracket had been cut wrong and the one at the bottom of the down tube was longer than the one on the vertical tube. The underside of the d/t also showed a gap where the bi-lam had been cut too short.
As I had just had an acrimonious split with a business partner, I had neither the money or the inclination to start another battle. I tried to tidy the frame a bit myself and filed the lugs (not very successfully) and removed the top part of the top eyes .
My Ron Cooper classic has remained unpainted and unbuilt in my attic, to be cringed at each time I pass it.

I don't suppose anybody's got an unused Coventry chain for sale, or failing that, six or eight good used Coventry links.

Thanks for your time. charlie

pm me.

Glad to hear the tubes arrived safely. I don't think you could do better than Yatesy's framebuilding courses. I've never met a framebuilder who didn't think he was the greatest, but Dave is one of the few who has the right to be called one of the best. Right up there with Bill Gray and Stan Pike.
(Not a plug - the guy is a great engineer!)

The Baines Gate didn't have a bridge on the chainstays. The wheel went virtually right up to the seat tube. Very rigid at the back.

Hi,
Yes I do have some tubes left. How many sets did you want? I did send you an e-mail yesterday, but I think my computer has developed PMT. Send me an e-mail if you got it, if not just reply on the forum. I sold a previous set for £50 incl. postage. Are you a builder?

Cheers charlie