SpringBates by
JuanM58, on Flickr
SpringBates2 by
JuanM58, on Flickr
Back in the autumn I visited a fellow V-CC member to take a look at his bikes. Whilst looking at his Ron Cooper built Bates I mentioned that I had always fancied owning one and, what a coincidence, he had a Best All Rounder frame for sale. I had actually seen the frame on EBay a few months beforehand and nearly called him as I knew he was local; I wasn’t aware it was his. Well, after a bit of a chat the deal was done it was mine. I have been building it up through the winter with parts from various sources, mainly jumbles and EBay. Although the frame dates from the late ‘50s (Bates numbers are sequential so it’s difficult to be precise) it looks as if has been updated perhaps in the ‘80s with Campag rear drop outs with hanger, a cable stop under the chainstay and cable guides beneath the BB. I chose to disregard these and set it up as far as possible with period components.
The wheels are 27” Wolber Super Champion rims on Campagolo NT LF hubs with Sapim plain gauge spokes and a Regina 14-23 5--speed block. I built these up for general running about on the lousy road surfaces that we have round here; I have a nice pair of wheels with Airlite hubs for best. The steel stem is Titan as are the alloy Maes bars. GB Coureur callipers are fitted with GB Superhood levers. The headset is Stronglight from a recent jumble at Ripley as was the Lycett Swallow saddle. I managed to get hold of some repro mudguard bolts which are unique to Bates frames; these were sourced via EBay. The Campagnolo GS derailleur is fitted with an ‘open C’ band-on lever, whatever the significance of that is. The Solida 5-pin cranks came from the small ads in the V-CC mag and the 49T TA ring from EBay, as were the Lyotard pedals. Skinny 19mm amber wall tyres are from EBay and marked Made in Yugoslavia, but look to be in pretty good nick.
It took me a good while to settle it down. The chain kept wanting to run off the two larger sprockets and after much fiddling about altering the chainline to little avail I eventually tightened a 12” shifter around the derailleur and gave the whole thing a gentle tweak…and that sorted that; perhaps the hanger was twisted or something. The handling felt very twitchy to begin with but this has improved greatly with the replacement of the original modern headset with the Stronglight although I suspect the main problem was the cables dragging on the bars, hence the cable tie. The ride is quite lively and taut, quite a modern feel compared to my other vintage rides. The main reason for this is the ‘Cantiflex’ frame tubes which are wider in section in the middle than at the ends. This means that the tubes are stiffer than tubes of a smaller diameter, but that conventional lugs can be used. It looks to me as if it has been slightly inflated, like a balloon animal. I am not sure what difference the double curve ‘Diadrant’ forks make, 5% better pointability perhaps; I suspect that it was mainly marketing, setting the Bates apart from the conventional frames rather like the vibrant stays of a Hetchins. I am looking forward to getting out on a few runs through the summer but I guess that I am going to have to start looking out for a new project now.
With thanks to MarkT for sorting me out with a replacement rear hub when I stripped the thread on the original by the sheer power of my mighty Hoyesque legs.
