Memories of the Dawes Galaxy

[nez]

Hear hear

[Bmblbzzz]

I swapped a smaller Dawes Super Galaxy for a larger Horizon (same frame) in order to get a shorter top tube.

Please explain! If the Super Galaxy and the Horizon use the same frame, then how can a larger frame have a shorter top tube?

[TrevA]

I swapped a smaller Dawes Super Galaxy for a larger Horizon (same frame) in order to get a shorter top tube.

Please explain! If the Super Galaxy and the Horizon use the same frame, then how can a larger frame have a shorter top tube?

Not the same frame. My wife’s Horizon is 520 tubing and more sloping geometry than my Super Galaxy which uses 853 tubing and only slightly sloping top tube. They are both circa 2008/9.

[Cyril Haearn]

Whatabout stepover height?

[Bmblbzzz]

I swapped a smaller Dawes Super Galaxy for a larger Horizon (same frame) in order to get a shorter top tube.

Please explain! If the Super Galaxy and the Horizon use the same frame, then how can a larger frame have a shorter top tube?

Not the same frame. My wife’s Horizon is 520 tubing and more sloping geometry than my Super Galaxy which uses 853 tubing and only slightly sloping top tube. They are both circa 2008/9.

Thanks, that explains the larger frame with a shorter top tube. So I presume "(same frame)" refers to a third bike, another (smaller) Horizon, which has been referenced at some previous point? (Not that it matters, I'm just puzzled!)

[horizon]

I swapped a smaller Dawes Super Galaxy for a larger Horizon (same frame) in order to get a shorter top tube.

Please explain! If the Super Galaxy and the Horizon use the same frame, then how can a larger frame have a shorter top tube?

Not the same frame. My wife’s Horizon is 520 tubing and more sloping geometry than my Super Galaxy which uses 853 tubing and only slightly sloping top tube. They are both circa 2008/9.

Mine is the year 2000 531 Horizon which, chemical analysis notwithstanding, is identical to the Galaxy and Super Galaxy for that year (they appear together in the brochure spec.). My daughter has the later version (still a good bike IMV).

[horizon]

I swapped a smaller Dawes Super Galaxy for a larger Horizon (same frame) in order to get a shorter top tube.

Please explain! If the Super Galaxy and the Horizon use the same frame, then how can a larger frame have a shorter top tube?

You've inspired me to go through the figures again out of interest (it is 20 years ago!) just to check and AFAICS it still remains the case but based on ETT (though the actual difference is still only 0.6 cm) . I must have had other reasons for getting the new bike and it may have just been a general impression that the larger size would fit me better. I think I came across the actual figures later on. Obviously the difference is negligible and I have since resolved the fit issue so selling the Super Galaxy was probably a mistake. I would still say though that (generally) top tubes don't reduce in size in proportion to frame size, but the seat angle gets steeper - it does catch people out..

Size 57: top tube 56.7 Seat Angle: 74 deg Effective top tube from standard 73 deg: 57.7
Size 59: top tube 57.3 Seat Angle: 73.30 deg Effective top tube from standard 73 deg: 57.6

[leftpoole]

I owned a brand new Galaxy in 1995. It was green (of course) it was beautiful-I loved it and used it. The real reason I no longer own it is because I have a poor spine. The Galaxy top tube was always a little too long for me (and possibly other people). If Dawes had made either a shorter version or a shorter top tube, I would still have it (probably). But I went over the Thorn. No argument, just great bikes. Still have Thorn bikes now.
Sorry Dawes but over the years you did not keep up. The period with Unicrown forks made me shudder.
Best to all Galaxy owners!

[horizon]

I owned a brand new Galaxy in 1995. It was green (of course) it was beautiful-I loved it and used it. The real reason I no longer own it is because I have a poor spine. The Galaxy top tube was always a little too long for me (and possibly other people). If Dawes had made either a shorter version or a shorter top tube, I would still have it (probably). But I went over the Thorn. No argument, just great bikes. Still have Thorn bikes now.
Sorry Dawes but over the years you did not keep up. The period with Unicrown forks made me shudder.
Best to all Galaxy owners!

I'm not sure when Thorn introduced their own bikes but I would have had the shorter Club Tour version like a shot had I known (a) about Thorns and (b) my sizing requirements. And that's even before we get to comparing steerer tube length on the Dawes and Thorn!

[nikkip]

The Galaxy top tube was always a little too long for me (and possibly other people).

Ha! I bought mine (a 43cm frame) off of someone on this forum (well, the CTC one) because she'd not got on with the reach. It turned out it was just a tiny bit too long for me too, but I struggled more with the brakes being designed for bigger hands and never quite being able to get the leverage/stoppage on the canti brakes. I eventually swapped over to butterfly bars, which worked as a fudge for reducing the reach, but also breathed new life into the brakes with the flat bar style levers.

[jimlews]

I owned a brand new Galaxy in 1995. It was green (of course) it was beautiful-I loved it and used it. The real reason I no longer own it is because I have a poor spine. The Galaxy top tube was always a little too long for me (and possibly other people). If Dawes had made either a shorter version or a shorter top tube, I would still have it (probably). But I went over the Thorn. No argument, just great bikes. Still have Thorn bikes now.
Sorry Dawes but over the years you did not keep up. The period with Unicrown forks made me shudder.
Best to all Galaxy owners!

I understand that certain Thorn models were indeed "rebranded" Dawes Galaxies. Some early 'Club Tour' for instance

[rogerzilla]

I alwsys wanted one, then they changed to a compact frame and I didn't want one any more. Deliqium had a really nice BRG one with centre-pulls that he was refurbishing.

[jimlews]

Interesting (to me) Dawes Galaxy coincidences.

Several years ago I bought a Circa 1981 - 1983 Galaxy via the good offices of this site; from somewhere near Hope in Derbyshire. Bought it home, fettled it up and corrected some 'mistakes' (it had 27" front wheel and 700c rear with a broken axle) and rode it around for a few days.
But I felt the lack of a saddlebag and found one for sale from a chap in London. When the S/B arrived, I lifted the flap and discovered the address of a previous owner - in Hope, Derbyshire.

That Galaxy has rather strange frame geometry. It has a relatively steep head angle and quite a slack seat tube angle This results in it having a long top tube. It took some adjustment (of me) to get used to it. 'Collateral' benefit is that I can use my old set of Karrimore top tube bags without them interfering with my knees. Similar to these:

https://www.carradice.co.uk/ranges/orig ... e-panniers

I now have three Dawes Galaxy framesets sourced from various parts of the UK; all were originally supplied by Chamberlains of Kentish town.

http://camdennewjournal.com/article/end ... tish%2520t

[leftpoole]

I owned a brand new Galaxy in 1995. It was green (of course) it was beautiful-I loved it and used it. The real reason I no longer own it is because I have a poor spine. The Galaxy top tube was always a little too long for me (and possibly other people). If Dawes had made either a shorter version or a shorter top tube, I would still have it (probably). But I went over the Thorn. No argument, just great bikes. Still have Thorn bikes now.
Sorry Dawes but over the years you did not keep up. The period with Unicrown forks made me shudder.
Best to all Galaxy owners!

I understand that certain Thorn models were indeed "rebranded" Dawes Galaxies. Some early 'Club Tour' for instance

I had one of those and it had a shorter top tube. I have been 'with' Thorn ever since-except my Moulton. My Brompton-my Van Nicholas.....

[EdT]

One of my chums had a galaxy which was already about ten years old when we did a big tour on the continent in the mid 1980s. Back when it was made (before the super galaxy even existed) the spec wasn't at all fancy; you got PG 531 main tubes, and the forks and stays were built heavy, in no-name tubing. This may have been deliberate, in that it made the thing stiff and it handled reasonably well even when it was loaded up. I remember being faintly horrified that the frameset weighed about 2-1/2lbs more than a 531DB road bike frameset did, but for loaded touring it seemed to work well. There were hardly any braze-ons and the RD used a bolt-on hanger bracket; all very basic; the only fancy thing on the bike was the aluminium head badge, which Dawes deleted in favour of a much cheaper transfer not long after that bike had been built. A few years later my chum had bought a much better touring bike; the Galaxy was demoted to 'winter beater', and of course given the then obligatory coat of hammerite.

Eventually it was deemed surplus to requirements even for that task, and the frame came to me. Up until then it had been fitted with centre pull brakes and these didn't quite have enough reach for 700Cs, so it was still on 27" wheels; I fitted canti bosses to it (such that it could be used with 700Cs or 27s), better carrier eyes, bottle bosses, welded a gear hanger on etc and passed it on to one of my chums. He painted it, built it up, and then it went through the same cycle more or less, being 'good touring bike' at first, then 'commuter/beater'. It was finally retired from active service in about 2012, by which time the chainstays had corroded so badly that there was nothing left to attach the mudguard to any more; the chainstay brace had gone, and indeed there was no adjacent chainstay to attach another brace to, either.

Once again the frameset came back to me, touch and go for the scrap bin, but after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and much weld repair it was made whole again. I have since built the frame up again and ridden it, intending to turn it into a flat barred town bike. However the steering geometry is 'low trail' and really flat bars together with an upright position don't suit it much; with no load on the handlebars the steering is super quick. So that plan is on hold, being given a dose of thinking, and it'll get dropped bars, different forks (which give more trail), or perhaps a basket will calm the front down. Anyway the bike has already had multiple lives in its 45 years and my suspicion is that it has a few more lives left in it yet; we shall see.

I guess it has outlived at least half a dozen wheelsets and must have at least 100K miles on it. It has only ever had two headsets; the 'replacement' SunTour Superbe headset has been in it for at least 35 years and about 80000 miles; in good part due to the full complement 3/16" bearings in the lower race. When I did the brazing work (first time around...) I think the only original parts remaining were the brake calipers. I wonder how many galaxies have had a similar "Trigger's broom" life history?

cheers

An interesting find about an old friend - good to know it found another life. The hammerite though was applied after the cantilever bosses had been added. Also, one component is still going well - the Brooks B17.
I looked up my photos from that tour but the only ones with the bike were lacking in detail. Good memories.