Cycling UK Forum

Thank you all for your advice so far, it is much appreciated.

The bike had been refitted when I received it so I know it wasn't new, but I think most of the parts were new and the frame was in immaculate condition so may have recently been reconditioned.

Hmm, spreading the rear frame sounds a bit drastic. Don't they make rear gear sets with five gears anymore? The rims are not that bad, I carefully sanded them down years ago to improve braking performance (the grooves were pretty deep! There was perhaps half the braking friction it should have had); today it's not perfect but it's OK. Originally the bike had small brake blocks but I soon moved to longer ones.

I think I will have a set of the MKS pedals and SKS mudguards for starters, and see what the basic toe clips are like (the photo on Wiggle is not great, can't tell if it's bright shiny chrome or dull steel). I have some leather toe straps that should fit the pedals and clips. I may wait to buy the saddle, it looks like the B17 Standard is probably what came off it so will go for that again, then I may actually be able to hang my Carradice saddle bag properly! It has a terrible shape due to being hung too low over the rack.

Hi,

First post, don't know all the jargon so please be gentle with me.

I have a Dawes Galaxy (not super) on a 531ST frame, friction levers, alloy rack, alloy Rigida rims. Originally a birthday present to me in about 1988-ish. Rode it a lot back then but it's been through the wars a bit, sat in a garage for many years unused, lost its Brooks leather saddle (it was rock hard and put me off using the bike so I replaced it with a cheap padded saddle, better but now I kind of regret selling the Brooks at a car boot sale), used for commuting at various stages in my life, and all the parts have generally lost their shine over the years. I'd really like to fix it up a bit, I know the frame is probably the most difficult part so I'm going to leave that for now (don't want to lose those stickers!), just concentrate on the easy ones such as mudguards, saddle, pedals, toe-clips, handlebar tape, etc.

I had to replace the worn out tyres on it a number of years ago and even then it was like trying to buy hen's teeth to find matching imperial ones, I ended up with 27 x 1 1/4 which the guy said were not exactly the same as the originals but they would fit the rims, they've been on ever since but are now beginning to craze at the edges; never much liked the orange canvas style sidewalls anyway, the original set of Michelin Select had lovely smooth cream coloured sidewalls. I'm not exactly sure what tyres should be on it, I would like a road touring tyre with a nice tread pattern, not knobbly though.

I have been looking on Wiggle at parts, they seem to have the same pedals that are on my Dawes, basic chrome plated toe-clips (mine are rather rusty beyond the ability of a brillo pad to restore), and I rather like the look of the SKS Chromoplastic Silver mudguards, would 700 x 28-37 suit my bike?

I recently purchased a good Cateye rear light, it came with a rack mounting kit however this appears to be for a newer rack that has a built-in light bracket, my alloy rack doesn't have this. Can the metal bracket be purchased separately or do I just have no hope of fitting this light to the rack? I don't want to have to buy a new rack.

It's not a matter of a new bike being cheaper, as this bike has far more value to me than anything in the local bike shop window, and has better construction, I fancy, than anything Dawes have built in the past 15 or even 20 years. It's been through thick and thin with me and is a classic frame worth keeping hold of, after all the abuse it still rides very well.

Thank you for your advice!