What the flying gate is this?

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Jacomus-rides-Gen

Jacomus-rides-Gen

New Member
Its a Sony Ericsson W810i - pretty old now, but I have had it for just over a year, so still another 6 months before I can upgrade. Is a really high quality phone, aswell as having a 2mp camera with a flash, that can double as a torch. It is going to be tough to find a comparable replacement!
 

bonj2

Guest
Jacomus-rides-Gen said:
Its a Sony Ericsson W810i - pretty old now, but I have had it for just over a year, so still another 6 months before I can upgrade. Is a really high quality phone, aswell as having a 2mp camera with a flash, that can double as a torch. It is going to be tough to find a comparable replacement!

nice, i've got that phone aswell. good camera, especially for close ups like your pics of that utterly strange bike...
if there's nothing you'd rather have in 6 months just do what my bro always does which is just get the most expensive, latest one you can and ebay it, probably get a couple of hundred. he even goes so far as admitting to the phone company that's what he's going to do and asks them to tell him which one will fetch the most! :biggrin:
 

mr_hippo

Living Legend & Old Fart
Why all the negative comments? Do we think that the only road frame is the diamond or the sloping tube squashed diamond? There have been other designs that have been tried - some have been failures (but still have their followers) e.g. Kirk Magnesium - anyone remember them? Other designs have proved 'popular' over the years but have small production runs - Pedersen, Flying Gate, curly Hetchins, to name but three. Each design has its own advantages and disadvantages. How many of us have kept up with the latest 'fashion' in frame materials? How many of us have kept 'old school' - toe-clips, downtube levers, steel frames et al?
The only thing that I do not like in the illustrated Flying Gate is the colour scheme but that is a personal choice! I last rode a Flying Gate about 40 years ago and thought that they had gone out of production; I am now thinking of ordering one on my next visit to England.
 

Malky

Senior Member
Location
Newport IOW
Why all the negative comments? Do we think that the only road frame is the diamond or the sloping tube squashed diamond? There have been other designs that have been tried - some have been failures (but still have their followers) e.g. Kirk Magnesium - anyone remember them? Other designs have proved 'popular' over the years but have small production runs - Pedersen, Flying Gate, curly Hetchins, to name but three. Each design has its own advantages and disadvantages. How many of us have kept up with the latest 'fashion' in frame materials? How many of us have kept 'old school' - toe-clips, downtube levers, steel frames et al?
The only thing that I do not like in the illustrated Flying Gate is the colour scheme but that is a personal choice! I last rode a Flying Gate about 40 years ago and thought that they had gone out of production; I am now thinking of ordering one on my next visit to England.
 

Malky

Senior Member
Location
Newport IOW
Seems many here don't know the cycling history. The TJ cycles Flying Gate was re- introduced in 1979, previous to that the design was Baines around the mid 1940s I think. The idea is for Time Trailing really, although some adapted it for touring machines, this was not really the intention. The idea being to give as short a wheel base as possible, by introducing the vertical seat tube, the back wheel can be fitted much closer to the bottom bracket making the chain stay length shorter, and reducing the wheelbase to near 36" if I remember rightly. Short wheelbase = more responsive and faster ride, although twitchy. Did it make a difference, yes it did in the day compared to the standard time trial frames available. I know this as I tried one in 1980 . Don't be comparing this with modern carbon jobs etc. Its from a different era.

Only problem with them now is its a three year waiting list for a new one, otherwise I would have one.
 

CopperBrompton

Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
Location
London
Why all the negative comments? Do we think that the only road frame is the diamond or the sloping tube squashed diamond?
I have two bikes – a recumbent trike and a Brompton – so can hardly be accused of being afraid to try anything other than conventional DF designs, but that thing is as ugly as hell.
 

Malky

Senior Member
Location
Newport IOW
Seems many here don't know the cycling history. The TJ cycles Flying Gate was re- introduced in 1979, previous to that the design was Baines around the mid 1940s I think. The idea is for Time Trailing really, although some adapted it for touring machines, this was not really the intention. The idea being to give as short a wheel base as possible, by introducing the vertical seat tube, the back wheel can be fitted much closer to the bottom bracket making the chain stay length shorter, and reducing the wheelbase to near 36" if I remember rightly. Short wheelbase = more responsive and faster ride, although twitchy. Did it make a difference, yes it did in the day compared to the standard time trial frames available. I know this as I tried one in 1980 . Don't be comparing this with modern carbon jobs etc. Its from a different era.
It's only taken 7 years for that reply!
It's only taken 7 years for that reply!
Well I was just searching out the Flying Gate and came across this, didn't look at the dates, not that they are readily visible on the threads here so didn't look. Gets em talking again though doesn't it.
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Only problem with them now is its a three year waiting list for a new one, otherwise I would have one.

I'm not waiting three years to get my hands on one. I just go to my garage and get mine out.

gate.jpg


It's a superbly comfortable bike to ride. I'm thinking of having it resprayed pale green to match my Woodrup Chimera. It's currently colour matched to my Dave Yates Randonneur.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
I don't see it as exactly a thing of beauty, unlike, say, a curly Hetchins. However, a friend who owns an original Hetchins and a TJ Gate says that the former is a pig to ride whereas the Gate handles like a dream.
 
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