Hi Webike -

Here's what I know about Dawes. For several years, they were made in Birmingham, UK. At some point (I'm going to guess late 80's early 90's) they were sold to a Chinese company and quality summarily dropped (I'm repeating what I've heard; I've no first-hand experience with Chinese Dawes'). Somewhat recently, it appears that the Dawes brand now falls under the BikesDirect.com umbrella. Folks seem to find the SST (track bike) agreeable, but that's the only positive I've heard.

As for the older ones, I agree with Cycleheimer in that the Galaxy is a somewhat decent touring bike (I have a refurbished 1970 Galaxy): Steel Lugged Frame, Reynolds 531 tubing, which I'm told was quite the thing in it's day.

As for how upper end, I can't tell, honestly. I've heard that the Galaxy et al were somewhat mid-grade bikes - not bad, but not spectacular. Then again, an acquaintance of mine hails from Scotland and upon hearing what I have, commented that they were higher end bikes. So there you go.

From Sheldon Brown:

Dawes

Production bikes ranging from just OK to quite interesting. There is an interesting drawing of a Dawes in the Data Book from the 50's. The majority of Dawes in the 70's did not have full Campy N.R. - the Galaxy was one such model. Very common and impressive with its 531 tubes but not spectacular otherwise. Figure for such a bike $ 300 or so. For top-end full N.R. bikes maybe $575. There were some interesting bright pink team issue frames from the 70's that were pretty nifty. Such bikes full N.R. should probably be worth $750 ish. Need a buyer who can deal with pink. Early 50's bikes such as the one in the Data Book with fun parts are probably worth in the thousand range - maybe. On old bikes the parts details are everything!