Dawes Galaxy refit parts and questions

[jonathanuk]

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!

[gaz]

.

[Brucey]

MKS pedals are nice and are similar or identical to those which might have been originally fitted.

27 x 1 1/4" tyres are actually a very nice size for a wide variety of touring activities; it is a shame that they are getting tricky to source now. As suggested above SJS have a fair selection. Of the ones they have the Michelin is available in amber wall

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/michelin-michelin-world-tour-tyre-amber-wall-27-x-1-1-4-inch-(32-630)-prod12874/

but the black version is more durable. The conti ultragatorskin is probably a good performance choice.

The Schwalbe HS159 27" tyre is also manufactured in gumwall and whitewall versions, although SJS have neither. My local Giant dealer claims to be able to get any Schwalbe tyre inside two days (from Schwalbe UK or Schwalbe in Germany if necessary) and so far hasn't let me down; I've not had those particular ones though.

cheers

[markfh]

The Schwalbe HS159 27" tyre has some puncture protection. I was running some on 27" wheels earlier in the year and they seemed to reduce if not entirely eliminate the number of punctures I had while running round the local lanes. Don't forget to try Amazon as they were the cheapest source when I bought a pair late last year.

Depending on what sort of shoes you wear for cycling it might be worth considering some platform pedals. My CB Majestic of a similar vintage has been equipped with SR SP-11 platform pedals for most of its life and these have been very comfortable for me with a variety of shoes. Unfortunately these pedals are no longer available - the closest I have seen to them recently are either MKS Gr-9 or MKS Urbans although the latter are quite expensive. My pedals are currently equipped with black plastic toe clips, not entirely in keeping with the original style but they do seem to withstand abuse and definitely do not rust.

Edit - just so that you can see the sort of pedals I am talking about (minus clips and straps), here is a link to SR SP-11s on Velobase http://www.velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=036524D0-6997-4104-9F89-D654F3410143&Enum=109&AbsPos=144.

On mudguards it is probably more a question of what will give sufficient clearance for the tyres you have on the wheels, noting that you are using 27" wheels. I replaced the mudguards on my CB Majestic earlier in the year and it was a case of cutting the provided stainless steel stays to get the correct line relative to the wheel/tyre. With 27" wheels you probably will have very little to cut off. When I did it I had already changed from 27" wheels to 700c's which are 8 mm smaller in diameter, but I am sure that I cut off more that 4 mm from the various stays so you should be OK.

It may be worth thinking where you are going longer term with this bike. Wheels with alloy rims do not last indefinitely as the rims gradually get worn away by the brakes. You may want to consider changing to 700c wheels at that time as 27" alloy rims are getting increasingly difficult to find. The front wheel should not be much of a problem as the 100mm OLN (over lock nuts) separation is still standard and if you are lucky the existing brakes will adjust down enough. The rear wheel may be more of a challenge as modern rear road hubs are 130 OLN and your frame will probably be either 120mm or 126mm depending on its age - it is worth checking. If you go for a 130mm OLN hub you will need to consider how you spread the rear frame either by just "springing" in the wider hub or having it "cold set" to the wider separation. One possible advantage of going to a 130 OLN hub is that you could also change to a free hub & cassette - assuming that you currently have a freewheel - and get a larger number of gears either more closely spaced or wider range depending on your priorities. If you keep the existing friction shifters then you do not have to deal with the complexities of "indexing".

[jonathanuk]

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.

[jonathanuk]

Just as a side note, the left pedal bears a scar from when I hit it against a curb at speed, nearly threw me off the bike. The underside of the pedal is slightly bent and scraped, I may be sorry to see this piece of the bike's history get replaced but c'est la vie. I want shiny new pedals!

Oh and shoes - normally just comfortable trainers or low profile hiking shoes. They keep my feet warm in the winter and breathe well in the summer, and when I'm on the mountain bike they enable me to walk up the steep muddy bits.

[markfh]

Although you can still get 5 speed freewheels the choice of gears is quite now quite limited and they tend only to be used on lower quality bikes now. If the available 5 speed freewheels meet your requirements than it is not an issue I was raising the possibility if you want or need to change you gearing. I went from a 6-speed freewheel to an 8-speed cassette earlier in the year and found that having more closely spaced gears made it far easier to keep pedalling at an even rate. If the rear hub is still OK when the rim wears out (see below) then you could rebuild the wheel with a new rim in either 27" or 700c (or have rebuilt) although you may find that you can buy a new wheel for similar money. I managed to buy two new wheels earlier in the year for less than the parts (i.e. rims, hubs and spokes etc) would have cost.

Spreading the rear frame is sometimes done on older bikes in order to be able to use hubs that have a larger OLN than they were originally designed for. I will leave others with more experience than I to comment on its implications but I ran my 120 mm rear drop-put spacing CB Majestic with a 126 mm OLN hub for a number of years before going to a 130 OLN hub earlier this year. I have done several thousand kms since with no untoward effects although getting the wheel in and out is a bit of an art as I have yet to get my mind round "cold setting".

If you have been using the bike for the last 30 years you will have worn away part of the rim thickness. Although the rim thickness will reduce at lower rate than the brake pads the rims will get worn away. Eventually the rims will get so thin that they will fail if you do not replace them first and such failures can be catastrophic. Some rims come with inbuilt wear indicators, such as a groove on the face of the rim (when it "disappears" it is time to replace the rim) or a hole that is exposed. If there is no such wear indicator then a limit on the rim wall thickness of 1.0 mm is generally used (some people appear to use a lower limit of 0.7 mm although they may be less risk averse).

[Brucey]

if you are in the habit of wearing ordinary shoes when cycling I'd suggest a set of MKS GR-9 pedals



cheers

[jonathanuk]

Another question... what do you call those rubber covers for the brake levers on drop handlebars? The ones on the top side that you can rest your hands in. Mine have the cables coming out of the top and I'd like to get some replacement cowls (if that's the correct term).

My search for parts is going quiet well, thanks in part to the replies in this thread. I found some matching chrome Christophe toe clips, taking a gamble that Medium is going to be fine for my normal UK size 8.5 shoes (couldn't find a size guide). Leather Christophe toe straps seem to be a tad expensive, the only place I've found some so far has been eBay, but I do have a few of those already anyway so probably won't buy them for now.

The rear rack light bracket is still eluding me. The one on SJS Cycles just isn't appropriate for my rack, I might have a go at making my own if I can find some alloy that I can fabricate one from.

[Brucey]

rubber bits = 'brake lever hoods', e.g.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brake-levers-hoods-dept682_pg1/

be sure to get the right ones for your levers, there are plenty of different types.

cheers

[jonathanuk]

These are my current levers and hoods:




Is this a Weinmann & Mafac style, as in this product on SJS? Or is there a better name for them?
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cane-creek-weinmann-and-mafac-style-cane-creek-road-brake-lever-hoods-black-prod26321/

Probably should get new tape too, something with a bit of comfort to it. I've seen some that looks good in the local bike shop (I forget the brand), any suggestions from you guys? I tend to get pain in my hands even after a short while so I probably need to sort out handlebar height or something, do you think raising it would help? Doesn't seem to matter where I put my hands, and I don't get it when riding mountain bike style bars (not the same anyway, and then only if I'm getting shaken to bits on rough tracks).

[Brucey]

they look like aftermarket lever hoods you have there at present. I don't recognise the brake levers..... are there any identifying marks?

cheers

[jonathanuk]

they look like aftermarket lever hoods you have there at present. I don't recognise the brake levers..... are there any identifying marks?

cheers

There are none that I can see. Would you recommend a new set of levers? I don't want to replace the whole brake cable system, but if buying new levers is as good as new hoods then I'll do that. Still would like the cables to come out of the top though. I am probably going to replace the handlebar tape too.

[jonathanuk]

Regarding the brake blocks, I have read in another thread about BBB Techstop, they look nice and I think they could be worth spending the money on for my Dawes, providing that they would work with it. I just don't know what the numbers mean so wouldn't know which ones to order. My tyres say 32x630 and they are on imperial Rigida alloy rims if that's anything to go by.

Here is my front caliper, the rear looks much the same:





The grey blocks I have on are aztec, they've been on for many years and are very worn down so there's little to no tread left, which I'm told is bad in wet weather.

PS I have new tyres on order, these ones are perishing and look rather bad.

[jonathanuk]

Another question regarding pedals...

Here is my current pedal, note that it has a bar running across the middle front to back. I notice the SKS ones do not have this, is there any advantage to either design?

My pedals:


New MKS Sylvan Touring Alloy pedals:


I might just clean up my old pedals, they're not that bad really and have a nicer design than the Sylvans. I have a new pair of matching chrome christophe toe-clips ready to fit.