The Story of the Flying Gate

THE BIRTH OF THE FLYING GATE.
HOW IT BEGAN WITH W & R BAINES

It is difficult to put together a full true and accurate record of the ‘Flying Gate ‘which was originally known as the “International TT” and VS 38 built by the Baines Company of Bradford, due mainly to the lack of documentation. The major cause of which occurred when the company closed in 1958, all the company books and records where neatly placed in tea chests, some were intended to be kept and some to be disposed of, but for reasons unknown, all were unfortunately disposed of. Only a few bits and pieces survived and were kept by Bill Baines, these too have diminished over the years, in fact the only book that is known to remain, is ‘the record of advertising’ with a selection of few photographs.To start at the beginning, Bill and Reg Baines's father had a cycle shop that was trading before 1900, there is a photograph of his shop taken in 1904 on display in the National Cycle Collection at Llandrindod Wells together with many photographs of the W&R Baines workshop and showroom premises taken around 1937.Reg Baines joined his father in the shop in 1919 at the age of 14, but even before that he had to assist work in the workshop each evening after school from 5 to 7 pm and again on Saturday mornings. At that young age he learnt to braze and stove enamel with the best of them. Bill Baines joined the company on leaving school in 1921. At this time 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 Reg rejoined the company and formed the W & R Baines Company believe to be a round 1928.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. The thoughts on this came about after a visit to watch a track meeting on a boarded track near Middlesbough.On the way home Bill and Reg where discussing the stress and whip they had noted on the rear of the bikes and came to the conclusion that shorter chain stays would be an advantage.Reg set about this by building a mock up frame less the seat tube with the chains stays as short as possible. After much thought the vertical tube was considered the most practical and aesthetic solution.This was the birth of the first V38, a naked looking frame with the seat pillar passing though the seat lug. Further thought was given to the design that Reg had achieved and a short seat tube with twin struts from the intersection of the vertical tube on the top tube to the rear drop outs and linking up with the now small seat tube, the frame was called the VS37 due to its 37” wheelbase All of the testing of the VS37 was done on local hill climbs with great success. This had achieved the responsiveness that Bill and Reg had been looking for, hence the VS37 was born and known as the International TT. Full scale manufacture did not commence until 1936 when the new factory was built in Idle Road. With Reg’s engineering background the works were well laid out and the frames well made, with machine cut miters, good quality brazing and face plate correctness. The lugs where neatly filed but not ornate. The paint spraying was kept in-house, and again great care was taken to ensure that a good finish was achieved. The stove enamelling was undertaken in a thermostatically controlled gas heated oven which held five frames.It proved to be ahead of its time and with the successes that riders were having and that of Jack Fancourt and Jack Holmes were having on this frame at Brooklands, Donnington and in the Isle of Man speaks for itself. The frame was selected for the 1938 Olympics that was canceled due to the Second World War.During the war years, Baines did war work although several frames did come out of the back door. The supply of top lugs dried up and were fillet brazed in these areas frame building stopped in 1954.Frame numbers, which are stamped on the steerer tube and rear left hand dropout, and dates are difficult to determine correctly due to the loss of the records.A frame register is now quite comprehensive and up to date with the information received over the years which is now in the hands of Rob Seall the Marque Enthusiast for Baines.