History
To start at the beginning, Bill and Reg Baine’s father had a bicycle shop that was trading before 1900. Reg Baines joined his father in the shop in 1919 at the age of 14, but even before that he used to help in the workshop each evening after school. Two years later he decided to leave school, but there was insufficient work for the three of them, so Reg left and joined the Jowett car company in Bradford and became a draughtsman. After a few years, believed to be in 1928, he rejoined the company under the new name ‘’W & R Baines Company’’. The company had been building standard frames, but in 1934 Reg designed and built the first vertical tube frame to achieve a shorter distance between wheels to make a more responsive frame. Reg made this possible by building a mock-up frame less the seat tube with the chains staying as short as possible. After much thought, the vertical tube was considered the most practical and aesthetic solution. This was the first, now known as the V38, frame with the seat pillar passing through the seat lug and right away the design proved to be an immediate success.
Quick facts
-In 1996 Trevor Jarvis was awarded the ‘’Frame Builder of the Year’’ by the institute of cycling engineers.
-Design engineer and cyclist Trevor Jarvis dedicated 31 years to building over 600 Flying Gate frames.
-Avid cyclist and one of the UK’s leading artist-blacksmiths, Chris Yeomans, set up the brand Smithy Frame Works in 2017 and
-In 2019 Chris Yeomans was awarded the Single Track Magazine prize at Bespoked for his Enduro bike frame.
What are they doing now?
Now the Flying gate has a nice collection of six different types of bikes.
The Dovedale
These are designed with a clean and minimalist look. The Dovedale uses a high-quality non-ornate cast set of lugs and a bottom bracket. The cast rear dropouts can be horizontal or vertical. Some special features are the rear dropout choice, the quality headset which is included and the choice of gear cable stops.
The Dovedale RS
RS stands for Rough Stuff and is for those cyclists who love to wander off the beaten track but still want to do so on a Flying Gate. Some special features are the choice of axle widths, the single paint colour as standard and one set of bottle cage mounts which is included.
The Dovedale Deluxe
The Dovedale with a bit extra, a bit more. The Dovedale Deluxe has more detailed cast lugs and a bottom bracket. With lots of opportunities for an individual colour scheme to enhance the detail. Unique is that the Dovedale frames can be built for touring, Audax or single-speed use.
The Diana
This frame really moves into the classic world with beautiful Fleur-de-Lys lugs, bottom brackets, fork crowns, dropouts and bottle cage surrounds. You can still choose either a horizontal or vertical rear dropout.
The Jupiter
Very unique, so now only available by special order. It is one of the historic lug designs that Trevor made over the years that can be seen on the historic pages. This is our ultimate frame taking many hours to build and refine, ready for a rather special finish. The ‘Jupiter’ is an exceptional frameset built exactly to your requirements.
Stock Bikes
These bikes are built exclusively from Columbus Spirit Tubing and they are available as a complete bike or as a frame set. In keeping with the original frames and also compatible with the most up-to-date gear sets.
Since 1997 the Flying Gate Weekend has been held on the weekend after the August Bank Holiday. Each year Gate owners and enthusiasts get together to ride, eat, meet old friends and make new ones.
On Thursday afternoon people start to arrive, check in, meet up and put their bikes in the bike room. Friday and Saturday the day starts with a nice breakfast and then a group ride (choice between 2 routes, one about 40-50 miles and the other significantly shorter) out in a relaxed pace with an organised lunch stop and an afternoon tea. Sunday there will be a final group ride, ending with a roast dinner.
