Old 01-08-11, 12:34 AM
  #6  
conspiratemus1
Used to be Conspiratemus
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Hamilton ON Canada
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A university student named Lanny Salsberg rode a Dawes Galaxy a good chunk of the way across western Canada in 1968 and published his engaging story in Bicycling! (Feb '69) which made their 1970 "Best of..." anthology. He called it a "lightweight racing bicycle [sic, but '10-speeds' were all 'racing bikes' back then]...which has a ten-speed Simplex gear and, if the winds are right, will take you 125 miles in a day." He made it to Kenora before he bailed and hitched a ride around Lake Superior; Randyjawa can perhaps empathize with that decision.

The Galaxy was indeed the one with straight-gauge 531 in the three main tubes, like the Raleigh Super Course. The ones I saw around Toronto in the '70s were equipped similarly to my contemporary Super: Simplex derailers, good steel cottered cranks, Weinmann centre-pull brakes, and aluminum rims which were a great improvement over the steel rims I'd put up with on my earlier Peugeot. Never saw one with any Campy on them, but we were starving college students then, diverting a little summer job money into our passion. Put a Suntour V-GT on any of them and you had a cracking good sport-touring bike. I thought the Galaxies had a little "something" that set them off, maybe it was just the vibe from Salsberg's tour story.
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