Touring - Dawes Galaxy Appreciation Society!!!

Wandered how many people on here have Dawes Galaxy bikes, and what people think of them, also I have just bought an old english built Dawes Galaxy 531 tourer with 531 forks, carradice saddlebag, for £120, and added a brooks saddle for another £40.
Its a great bike so far, it took a little getting used to, in as much as I hadnt done any riding for a couple of years, but Im glad I have the right bike, its very comfortable having nice wide 32c tyres, and the brooks I feel is comfortable right out the box, but maybe thats just me, it always has the right gear, and climbing hills is easy, the only thing about it, is its probably a tad slow compared to a racing road bike, but the roads round where I am been full of potholes and shake the bike to bits so Im glad of the extra comfort.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/3765703219_8ce8055ecf_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/3765703219_8ce8055ecf_b.jpg

Don't have one, but you can appreciate beauty and art without owning. Very nice,.. . :)

That's a classic British tourer, the Carradice completes it. What rings do you have on the crank?

my very first GOOD road/touring bike was a DAwes Galaxy from 1971. My Father and I bought the same DAwes model together at the old Clark St location of Turin Bikes in Chicago. Brooks B5N saddle, Simplex changers, 531 frame, miles of chrome on the forks. It wasn't the fleetest stead in the barn, but was a beauty and I did do a tour on it that summer. As so often was the case during the first bike boom of the 70's, it got nicked because I was not careful enough. Brought me to tears (at the tender age of 15) when it was lost. I have since inherited my father's Dawes since he is now much too old to ride.. It has gone thru a few incarnations (road bike, flat bar town bike, single speed, then fixed gear project that my oldest daughter built up, then single speed again, now just a frame mounted on the garage wall.

Enjoy yours!
Mark

The 1971 Dawes Galaxy described by Sigurdd50 above is in the process of getting a new lease on life. I bought the frame that was mounted on Mark's garage wall and plan to restore it. In keeping with what I have read about Dawes bikes, that they put a lot of the value into the hand-built frame, and expected the owners would upgrade components as needed, I intend to upgrade some components to what a touring cyclist in the early 1970s would have had available. I hope to use the bike for some easy tours, the sort where a carradice saddlebag and a credit card would be about all someone would need. What I like about the frameset is the handbuilt quality and the lugwork. It is also, I think, a very light frame for its time, and its intended purpose.

232055

The Dawes Galaxy was a very good touring bike in it's day and is still viable today.

I have a 1976? frameset that is most likely going to end up as a Clubman style bike (http://sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/clubman-kohler.html).

Aaron :)
http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/48457/2846235950066886751S500x500Q85.jpg

Dawes is a UK brand, so talk amingst yourselves ..

the old Clark St location of Turin Bikes in Chicago.
Mark

Ah, thanks for that memory! We're about the same age, it seems. I lived in Lake Forest 1969-1971, my first two years of high school. I bought a Raleigh Super Course from Kiddles in 1969, on which I would occasionally ride down to Chicago - to drool over the bikes on Clark St.!

My first W-2 job was at Kiddles, fixing flats etc. The owner offered to send me to the Schwinn repair school in the summer of 1971, but sadly I had to decline because we were moving to Ft Wayne, Indiana. Ain't life something!

Harold Briercliffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Briercliffe) rode a Dawes Super Galaxy.

I hope this isn't off the mark. I once had an 8-speed Dawes Windrush from 50+ years ago. The frame was made with Reynolds 531 straight gauge tubing. It came with Benelux derailleurs ('70s replacement Simplex RD seen in picture below), GB stem and bars, and a Miller generator light set. Nice, solid ride. It was a bit too small for me, though, and I replaced it with a similar type bike with a larger frame. The Windrush was the model available prior to the Galaxy, which I think first appeared in around 1964(?).

http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/blog/wp-content/bikes/owner-submitted-0309/james-1959-dawes-windrush-03.jpg

BTW, dansenior, very nice touring bike for under $190 USD.

Harold Briercliffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Briercliffe) rode a Dawes Super Galaxy.

I have the book, Britain by Bike (http://www.amazon.com/Britain-Bike-Two-Wheeled-Odyssey-Around/dp/1906388717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325511208&sr=8-1) that goes with the BBC series, now if I could just get the BBC series....

Aaron :)

I have a 1979 Super Galaxy I purchased while in the USAF in Oxford, England. It's hanging on the wall waiting for an update to include a paint job. Thanks for the pix it brought back many happy memories of a time long ago. Although I have other bikes now it has sparked an enthusiastic desire to put some time into the rework.

thanks :)

I bought a lightly used Dawes Super Galaxy in the UK in 1993 for £350 (sterling). 27 gears, bar end shifters, totally standard except for me replacing the saddle with a Brooks. Used it for a year long round the world trip with bicycle. Trucked my worldly belongings, tent & camping gear, on and off planes, trains, buses, trucks, boats, canoes......never let me down, rode superbly laden and unladen on all kinds of surfaces. Other than a few punctures, not a thing went wrong. Rode it for a couple of years when I got back to the UK and sold it for £300 (I kept the Brooks!). Has to be the most cost effective long-term bike rental ever! Replaced it with a custom built Tony Oliver frame and built a new expedition spec bike (26" wheels, big clearances, tough Reynolds 708/Columbus SP tubing). Cost me more than four times what I paid for the Galaxy and rides maybe 20% better. Who's counting? In a world of diminishing returns it's of little consequence as I'll never sell it. The Dawes Galaxy is a truly excellent touring bike which holds it value better than any bike I know -with good reason.

If you ever get the chance to read the book "Touring Bikes" by Tony Oliver - do it. Best book I've ever read on how to build a touring bike and even though it's a bit dated now, it's full of common sense with a metallurgists expertise based on massive cycling experience. It's a shame Tony stopped building frames, but I'm glad I managed to get one before he stopped.

Nice to find a Galaxy appreciation page and read Galaxy tales like Olly's above. You can see why they have such a following, and a mystery to the old ones after Dawes' records are lost.
This is mine, bought for £77 on Ebay a couple of years ago (I've only fitted the saddle and pedals) and I'm not sure exactly how old it could be. http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4043/4257668194_156e8dd798.jpg
It took me and 15kg luggage 1700 miles in the winter to Morocco without a single hiccup.

Looking at other's research, it could be a 1977 Galaxy GT, though those gold stripes on the seat tube suggest it could be older (like wahoonc's brown one above).
The serial is AC2831

Dawes is a UK brand...

Today, Dawes (http://www.dawescycles.com/) is a UK brand in the UK. In the USA, Dawes (http://dawescyclesusa.com/) is an American brand. The bikes are built in Asia in either case.

Nice to find a Galaxy appreciation page and read Galaxy tales like Olly's above. You can see why they have such a following, and a mystery to the old ones after Dawes' records are lost.
This is mine, bought for £77 on Ebay a couple of years ago (I've only fitted the saddle and pedals) and I'm not sure exactly how old it could be. http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4043/4257668194_156e8dd798.jpg
It took me and 15kg luggage 1700 miles in the winter to Morocco without a single hiccup.

Looking at other's research, it could be a 1977 Galaxy GT, though those gold stripes on the seat tube suggest it could be older (like wahoonc's brown one above).
The serial is AC2831

Were you wearing a mask, a striped jumper and carrying a bag marked SWAG when you bought ( sorry stole) that lovely Dawes?

My Dawes "Super Galaxy" where bought in 1995, for my first tour (4 month in the USA). There was a Dawes dealer in Israel, who was active during the 80s.

Pictured here on the Carretera austral, chile, on a very rainy day:

The bike was re-painted in 2005. This photo is from a trip to Norway, in 2006.

Ah, thanks for that memory! We're about the same age, it seems. I lived in Lake Forest 1969-1971, my first two years of high school. I bought a Raleigh Super Course from Kiddles in 1969, on which I would occasionally ride down to Chicago - to drool over the bikes on Clark St.!

My first W-2 job was at Kiddles, fixing flats etc. The owner offered to send me to the Schwinn repair school in the summer of 1971, but sadly I had to decline because we were moving to Ft Wayne, Indiana. Ain't life something!

Me to . Bin to that shop . Lived in Geneve ill

Were you wearing a mask, a striped jumper and carrying a bag marked SWAG when you bought ( sorry stole) that lovely Dawes?

One sometimes uses judgement and the guy seemed very genuine seller. I picked it up from his house. Why, do you know otherwise?

One sometimes uses judgement and the guy seemed very genuine seller. I picked it up from his house. Why, do you know otherwise?

Not at all. That'll teach me to be a bit more obvious in my future attempts at humour. Stony ground, obviously, on this occasion.

It's a lovely bike and I hope you enjoy using it.

Having forgotten about this post oops, just reading through. Having ridden the bike for a couple of years now, i can say its definitely my favourite bike, its dependable, feels solid and very comfortable with the brooks saddle, very impressed, have a few other bikes including an old townie, a fixed gear and couple of racing bikes a bianchi and peugeot, and when ever been on the other bikes and go back to the galaxy, notice difference in weight but how nicely the galaxy rides, been on a 66 mile ride round yorkshire and was great

Not at all. That'll teach me to be a bit more obvious in my future attempts at humour. Stony ground, obviously, on this occasion.

It's a lovely bike and I hope you enjoy using it.

I'm really not good at sarcasm!
I enjoy it just a little bit too much. I have become too attached to it now to use it as an everyday mode of city transport. Unfortunately I got a bit too carried away when looking for a crappy 'pub' bike and have bought a rusty old 1959 Dawes Campagnolo Gran Sport equipped Concorde to restore. Luckily it doesn't fit me and I intend to sell it!

I'm really not good at sarcasm!
I enjoy it just a little bit too much. I have become too attached to it now to use it as an everyday mode of city transport. Unfortunately I got a bit too carried away when looking for a crappy 'pub' bike and have bought a rusty old 1959 Dawes Campagnolo Gran Sport equipped Concorde to restore. Luckily it doesn't fit me and I intend to sell it!

No sarcasm intended whatsoever. Re-read my post and you'll find it was actually a big compliment on your shrewd business acumen and taste in acquiring such a nice bike at such a reasonable price. Now you need to say how it rides!

I am interested in buying this (http://www.hampshirebicycleexchange.com/sites/default/files/IMG_1947.JPG) bike, can anyone tell me more about it?

I am interested in buying this (http://www.hampshirebicycleexchange.com/sites/default/files/IMG_1947.JPG) bike, can anyone tell me more about it?

Looks like a mid-late 1970's model and from the one photograph supplied, looks to be in very good condition. The T.A. chainset is of very high quality. These are very well built bikes, specifically designed for touring - i.e. comfortable and good to ride for long distances when laden with front and rear panniers. It will be heavier than a modern lightweight racing machine, but don't let that put you off, as it's not designed for racing. If touring, the only things I would change are the brake shoes (for kool stops) and the old high slung front pannier rack. If you can find a way to fit low-rider front racks, the bike will handle better when laden as the centre of gravity will be lower. If the price is fair, I'd buy it. If it's black (which it looks to be), that's a bonus as any chips can be easily touched in with black enamel paint.

Good luck and let us know if you decide to buy it.

If it fits and the price is right...get it. You won't be disappointed.

Aaron :)