'90's Dawes Galaxy - original spec?

[Goldie]

I've landed most of a Dawes Galaxy, which I'd guess dates from the mid '90's. It's missing wheels, rear cassette, saddle and seat post, stem, bars and brake levers (or at least, the bars that it does have are some unbelievably fugly swept back things). Can anyone tell me what components the bike would have carried orignally? I'm keen to get this back together and on the road, if possible.

Also, the lugs on the frame look really ornate. Those on the headtube have a nice fishtail shaped bit to the centre - anyone know whose lugs Dawes were using?

[orra1979]

Hi Goldie, i've also recently posted about an old Galaxy. Mine looks to be identical to yours. My bike was missing its back wheel,rear derailleur, chain and front mudguard. The gears appear to be Suntour on my bike,Stronglight chainset and those same Weinmann brakes. If you look back at my post i think it was eighties/ early nineties was the considered opinion of the forum My G has the same scabby/rusty steel carrier rack as yours and no carrier braze ons.It had MKS quill type pedals and SR Custom drop bars and stem. You have done me a big favour posting nice pics.I wanted to know about the brakes? Obviously some sort of centre pull,I had not seen ones like this before,more the sort with a wire straddle cable,Anyone know anything about them? You have saved me from having to re-learn how to post photos .Against some considered advice i am going to restore my old machine, with new wheels ,gears etc. It will make a nice touring bike for my son .

[andrew_s]

It would certainly have had drop bars originally. The bars, stem, brake levers and quill adapter are definitely later modifications. The chainset is probably original, and the brakes and rack match those on a Galaxy I had around 1988, though that was a darker shade ("burnt cherry"?). IIRC the gears were Suntour Cyclone II, down tube shifters. The wheels were 27".
Mine also had an above the wheel front rack, of similar wire construction to the rear one.

[CREPELLO]

I think it's probably mid eighties. Not seen that colour on ebay before though. The lugs may possibly be a bit more ornate than the regular Galaxy of the era though, so perhaps it is earlier.

[PW]

It's one of the very early ones from the mid 80s. I had a workmate who rode one. The frame is 531 plain gauge IIRC. I think the majority of the parts were Suntour.
The chainset would probably have been an SR, maybe something like 52/36. (Compact doubles, new??)

[orra1979]

Hi PW, if the Reynolds sticker on my bike is to be believed the main tubes were butted, the stays and forks plain gauge.My bike has a Suntour Cyclone front mech and a Stronglight chainset,48/38,well named for it seems very light, with a Dotek lhs crank.What about those brakes,mine still have original Weinmann brake blocks fitted,nobody out there with knowledge of them.Also it has the wee footery adjusters fitted in the rear fork ends,probably have fun freeing those up

[bikeaway]

I have a poster of the Dawes bikes around 1980 which might be of some help. The Dawes Galaxy was either Blue haze or Beech brown in colour. It had alloy randonneur bars, Weinmann touring centre-pull brakes,Dawes Alloy cotterless chainset 40/52, Rear gear-Suntour VXT, Front- Suntour Compe-V, Freewheel 5speed- 14/17/20/24/28, 112-114links chain, Hubs- Large Flange alloy quick release spindles, Rims 27 11/4 ", Pedals - alloy quill, Tyres- Michelin Speed touring tread, Mudguards- chromoplastic with flap. Saddle- Dawes touring padded ,bag loops. Accessories- toe clips and straps' rear pannier carrier.(the Super Galaxy had both front and rear racks). I hope this might be useful information.

[PW]

There's a Cyclone front mech on our Claud Butler tandem, @1984, and the butted main tubes would make it 2nd generation, so it's mid rather than early 80s. I was probably 5 years wrong in my memory At least the decade is right!
Good luck with it, they were a good bike.

[TwoWheelsGood]

From what I know, Dawes used that particular style of transfers from 1982 to 1986, plus that Reynolds tubing transfer style dates from circa 1984, therefore mid-'80s would be a reasonable guess as to its age.

[Goldie]

Thanks very much everyone. So the Shimano Deore rear mech and Sugino triple chainwheel are later substitutions as well. It makes you realise how long 25 years is in the life of a bike, that it could have had a fairly major rebuild and still ended up needing this much TLC. If anyone has any pictures of Galxies of a similar age that might serve as inspiration / guidance / reality check, please stick them up!

I guess the drop bars would probably have carried the ornate Dawes "Handmade in England" engraving?

Orra1979, I've never seen that particular type of centre pulls before either - they're Weinmanns and a different casting to the Vanqueur / Type 610's that turn up everywhere. Bikeaway mentions touring Weinmanns on the 1980 bike - is that what these are?

Thanks again all.

[chrisw]

Here's my slightly younger super galaxy, she is a 1993 vintage and owned by me since 1994. Over that time I've worn through one set of wheels, two chainsets, countless tyres, chains, brake blocks etc. When I wore through the old wheels in 2004 I had new ones rebuilt around nine speed hubs, but without having cash to make the full conversion I put a seven speed cassette on the back with spacers so I could still use all the old running gear.

Last year I finally decided to give her another periodic spruce up. The frame was resprayed by Mercian and I collected together all the bits to convert her to nine speed. Now I know a lot of purists will bulk at the external bottom bracket and ugly mountainbike triple chainset, but hey ho! I really like the look of her at the moment.

So have fun renovating it wether you go for modern componentry, or try to go for a period restoration!

[Goldie]

Could anyone tell me what the correct seat post diameter for this bike is? Apologies in advance in advance for what must seem like an extremely lazy question, but my tape measure and adjustable wrench - the two things which might allow me to measure the internal diameter of the seat post reasonably accurately - are both AWOL...

Many thanks,

Luke

[monald]

Hi Luke,

I have been refurbishing a frame that looks pretty well identical to yours, as far as I can see from lugs, colour, badge etc. If the seat stays have got 'Dawes' stamped into them in (very faded) gold, then I reckon mine and yours are a match.

I measured my seatpost width with one of those fancy accurate digital rulers at the Bike Station, and it came out as 27.0 mm exactly. The Bike Station didn't have any seatposts at this width lying around - but a 27.2mm post just about worked, with a wee bit of grease.

Hope that helps, good luck!

[thirdcrank]

Goldie

What size is that back wheel, assuming it's original?

[barkers]

Some Dawes Catalogues online which might help you narrow down the age.

Definitely not '90s, for reference: http://www.koedjoinery.com/Dawes_1994_1.pdf

And this seems to be 1982: http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Dawes-82/

Good luck!