A friend who raced on the track in Melbourne in the late seventies told me that Bates track bikes were common at that time.
"The Bates I am thinking of are real works of art, they had BATES rendered by hand in curly capitals with lots of flourishes which would occupy most of the down tube of a track bike, and usually drop shadows in a lighter colour than the main lettering. They usually had the owner's name on the top tube in similar style, and the rest of the frame picked out with multi coloured pinstriping of the type favoured by signpainters of trucks rather than hot rod looking stuff."
According to Rolf Lunsmann's monograph on Malvern Star 5 Stars, Rupert Bates built many custom 5 Stars, as well as making lugs for same.
To confuse matters, there is also Bates of Sydney, Australia. Another friend has a 1960s Sydney Bates, which seems to be a workmanlike Nervex Pro lugged device with an intriguing selection of Campag Record & early Nuovo Record.
David Benson Auckland, New Zealand
Martin Walsh wrote: ...I had the pleasure of meeting the original owner of a neat 1976 Custom made BATES bicycle. Made in Melourne,Australia from the shop of Rupert and Norman Bates. The bicycle had beautiful hand carved lugs, pencil thin rear seat stays and a very old school looking front fork ( as seen on some British bicycles,more round and stout looking fork blades). I would love to hear if any of the CR list members from down under know if any Bates frames made by Norman Bates are available. How many frames did NORMAN BATES MAKE????
The owner told me that Rupert Bates was the father, and Norman Bates was the son, and master frame builder. Norman Bates is supposed to have died July 4th, 2001. The bicycle business is defunct also, according to the man (owner of the Austalian made Bates). He did say that Norman was a contract builder for Malvern Star Bicycles of Melbourne, Australia. I would appreciate any light or information that CR list members from Australia have.
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