Cycling UK Forum

I have a lovely Woodrup touring bike made out of Reynolds 531c, it is comfortable, responsive and quick like a road bike but I would not want to take it off road at all. It may hold up to it, I don't know, but I don't want to risk it.

I was looking for an old cheap steel mountain bike to turn into an expedition bike when I found an older (80's) Dawes Galaxy with flat bars going for a song. I bought it because it was a cracking deal and I figured I could always clean it up and re-sell it if I didn't like it......but I do! I am not going to do any serious off-road riding, but want something I can ride on footpaths and rougher places I wouldn't want to take the Woodrup, like the Trans Pennine Trail - will the Galaxy hold up to this or should I sell it and continue my hunt for a steel mountain bike?

have done the trans penine on my galaxy....

A Galaxy is up to the challenge of unmetaled roads and trails.

That's good news!

I am probably going to get rid of my Specialized road bike and use the Woodrup instead as it is quick and responsive, almost as light as the Secteur and far more comfortable. I can use the Galaxy as a proper heavy duty fully loaded tourer, and get a cheap steel mtn bike as my errand/shopping/unattractive-to-thieves bike and for any real off-road stuff...

Went down the Mercian Way on my 1991 Galaxy (inc camping gear) last year - plenty of rough tracks. It held up fine apart from the head set coming a little loose - easily fixed.

The frame is pretty unlikely to break.
Weak point of almost any bike is the back wheel. Anything less than 135mm. OLN (over lock nuts - ie width of back wheel hub, and distance between dropouts) and you will have more wheel dish than you absolutely have to. And hubs for screw on freewheels can suffer with bent axles, and are getting fewer.