Cross Bailey Will Not Post

[peteraitken]

I have recently purchased a Cross Bailey to be used as an everyday workhorse pen replacing my 15 year old Lamy Safari that died - RIP Safari.

 

I am very impressed with how the Bailey writes, nice and wet and very smooth, no break-in required, great right out of the box and using with a converter. It out-performs my TWSBI Vac 700 and Sheaffer Calligraphy.

 

However, for me a major issue is that the cap will not post...... the cap just falls off! I emailed Cross and they replied with this -- "You could try and push the cap on and give it a slight twist to help it section"

 

I am a believer in the engineering principle that you should never have to force and I have tried to post the cap with every pressure from very gentle to very hard, with twist and no twist. Nothing. It just falls off.

 

On looking at the inside cap plastic insert that is obviously designed to hold the cap in place while both closed and capped, the measurements appear to be incorrect, but I may be totally wrong on this.

 

I want to use this very fine pen with the cap posted, I do not want to write with an un-posted fountain pen. Have anyone else had this problem and found a resolution?

 

Thank you

[Arklawboy]

I, too, have a couple of Baileys and agree with you. They are very nice writers, but the cap simply will not post. Unposted, it's too small for me to use comfortably for long stretches. My only solution is to set the cap aside when I write with the Bailey.

 

I can only surmise that the trouble with posting is that it is simply a design issue; some pens are apparently designed to post well (Townsend, Century II, etc.) and others aren't (TWSBI 540 and 580, for example, but they are much larger pens). But, IMHO, the Bailey would be a truly great pen (instead of just a really good one) if it posted well. Good luck!

[dadbar]

My Bailey did the same thing. It would not post either no matter how hard I tried to put the cap on.

 

One day I picked the pen up off the desk and the pen fell out of the cap...point down. Bye bye Bailey.

 

My local Staples has more at $20 a pop but there are other pens that work just as well and post cleanly. So I have no desire to replace it.

[inkstainedruth]

I don't have a Bailey, but I do have a Cross Solo that I recently bought used from the estate of a good friend. It's a nice looking pen -- bright red, with black trim and clip -- and a decent writer, now that I have a converter for it; and it didn't cost me a lot ($18 US, plus the cost of the converter). But the tapered end means it doesn't post. At all. So at the moment it's being flushed out. I'm going on "vacation" in a few weeks and I don't want to bring any pens that are remotely high-maintenance. And that includes any pen that doesn't post -- I can't run the risk of losing caps while camping.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

I don't have a Bailey, but I do have a Cross Solo that I recently bought used from the estate of a good friend. It's a nice looking pen -- bright red, with black trim and clip -- and a decent writer, now that I have a converter for it; and it didn't cost me a lot ($18 US, plus the cost of the converter). But the tapered end means it doesn't post. At all. So at the moment it's being flushed out. I'm going on "vacation" in a few weeks and I don't want to bring any pens that are remotely high-maintenance. And that includes any pen that doesn't post -- I can't run the risk of losing caps while camping.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

It posts. You have to push the cap on until it snaps. I have four of these, one NOS. They will post.

 

Let me clarify: the Solo will post. It clicks in place. The Townsend is similar.

Edited July 9, 2016 by pajaro

[inkstainedruth]

 

It posts. You have to push the cap on until it snaps. I have four of these, one NOS. They will post.

 

Let me clarify: the Solo will post. It clicks in place. The Townsend is similar.

 

Thanks! I feel a lot better now about taking the pen places (like camping, although I possibly won't), where I have to be doing stuff and won't necessarily have a good place to put the cap down without losing it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

 

Thanks! I feel a lot better now about taking the pen places (like camping, although I possibly won't), where I have to be doing stuff and won't necessarily have a good place to put the cap down without losing it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I felt just as you for a long time, until I found out by accident that the Solo and Townsend caps clicked onto the barrel end.

[J85909266]

I was given one as a gift. I had the same issue, but it broke in and posts fine, now.

[Mike 59]

Hi, re. Cross Bailey not posting, I bought one of these about four years ago, and found the same issue of course.

I saw the groove in the chromed part at the top of the barrel, I thought that must be to match a raised part in the cap, but no, it will not fit, and I tried, many times.

I did do some measurements, and it is about 1mm 'out', so the only way the cap will 'post' is to make a sleeve to fit over the chrome cap part, not really 'on' for most of us non-engineers.

A bodge could be a layer of tape, but it would look terrible.

( I've since had a thought that an 'O' ring fitted in that groove just might be enough, and I will test that idea. )

I still think the Bailey has got so much right in the design though, good finger grip on the section, a brass (?) barrel, and I like everything about the cap, it looks much more expensive than it is.

Really hard to believe this issue got through and no-one noticed, but it happened.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Mike 59

[peteraitken]

I too am sure the grove at the barrel end is supposed to sync with a matching part of the plastic insert inside the cap. As you say Mike59, when carefully measured, there appears to be a very small gap and the ‘O’ solution occurred to me also.

 

I have emailed Cross querying this problem, but in the meantime and have resorted to using a small piece of adhesive tape to hold it posted as it is such a nice pen to use, especially for the price.

[DaveBj]

^{I have the same issue with mine. Right now it's in the non-use mug, but if I can't solve the problem without ruining the looks of the pen, I'm going to re-home it, along with my other non-posters (TWSBY Classic, Jinhao X450).}

[pajaro]

I have about one hundred and fifty pens in my non use mug. Several pens in my non use cases and trays. A few pens in the decent pens cup.

[RMN]

I have about one hundred and fifty pens in my non use mug. Several pens in my non use cases and trays. A few pens in the decent pens cup.

 

That must be a rather formidable mug.....

 

 

D.ick

[GreenTR6]

I love the Bailey! I have several Bailey fountain pens and even have a few Bailey ballpoint pens and a Bailey rollerball pen. Of all my fountain pens, the Bailey and my Waterman Maestro are my favorites. Maybe I haven't written enough with my other pens, but I like the line and ink flow of my Baileys. As for the cap, I don't like that I have to set it down when I use it, but that doesn't stop this pen from being my favorite.

[AlfredCZ]

I have the same problem. Bailey was my first Fountain Pen after 30 years and looks really good. My first piece work posted a three weeks, another - changed - Bailey a one month I don´t know why Cross this really nice and classic looking pen degraded with construction flaw of cap I like it, it is a good writer, but i can write with him when have this dumb problem

[Wdrazek]

Love my Bailey BP and would love a Rollerball but the posting issue makes it a non-starter. Cross seems OK with it not posting, that is a shame.