i have recently acquired an older Dawes frame and am trying to find out more info about it. it has been rattlecaned so no decals showing of any kind even under the paint. chromed rear triangle with serial on left rear dropout, HS5388. the head badge is still in great shape and is white and gold. a gold torch white background, birmingham england. there is a curved rear brake cable hanger, small braze on cable guides. will check seatpost size shortly. headset has very small loose bearings set in a seperate race that sits in the normal race. top and bottom. i removed some of the paint around the head lugs and the paint looks kinda black with gold outline of the lugs. the fork has a chrome crown, flat, and partial chromed legs although it appears to be twisted (not bent but twisted) no name on the dropouts but they are different. i will try to get some pictures soon.

dawes pictures, seatpost size is 26.6 or 26.4

Hi there, I can't tell you much by the way. I have a Dawes Super Galaxy from 1975. The lugs on mine are quite similar shape and have the half chromed forks, it has a slightly different headbadge. I will look into it more actually, it could be from the same era as yours perhaps, i'm not sure!
Sam
p.s you in england?

Also check this page and website out, might give you some clues, have you got any more pics of the frame as a whole? Also there was a recent thread, still in the first page, about where to find info on the web, good to know theres more Dawes people on here since the majority of people are from the US here!

Sorry! I just looked at your avatar! Thats even cooler!

That is the earlier head badge, I would guess anywhere from around 1965 to 1972 or so, find out what the geometry is and that should clue you in on which model of bike it was. I would guess 531 main frame too.

Aaron

My dawes is 531 aswell not that the posters bike is but could indicate that his is. + 1 on the geometry

what is the deal with the front fork dropout?

that's one of things i am hoping to find out here. strange one isn't it?

I have a very similar Dawes, serial # HS 9277. It's in pretty bad shape, but the head badge and lugs appear identical to yours. The fork, however, is different. I measured the seat tube angle and it's 72 degrees.

Anybody know of a Dawes serial number database anywhere?

And I thought Raleigh was sloppy...

-Kurt

not quite sure what you are referring to kurt. both the fork ends look like this and i have seen others on other dawes. i thought it might have something to do with a wheel retention thing or something

thanks for the info dwaine we are only 3889 bikes apart! funny eh, you are in florida i am on vancouver island we likely couldn't get much farther apart in north america. do you have any original components on your bike? the forks i have , although somewhat twisted, are i believe the original. about 3/4 chromed and chrome crown. only one set of eyelets. ohh, maybe that is what that little leg is supposed to have been. hhmmm

No, sorry. I bought mine on eBay for $15 a year and a half ago: frame, fork, headset (disassembled) and stem only. It came to me from Colorado, advertised as a "cracked old Dawes frame". I bought it as a cheap way to build a fixed gear conversion, just to see how I liked that type of bike. (I found that I do, and have since built up a proper fixed grear bike.) I weld as a hobby, so I "fixed" the crack (on the seat tube, low, still inside the BB lug). It has some of the original decals and it's too cool of a frame to trash, even though it probably should've been. I can't bring myself to euthanize a survivor. The old gal is still on the road, now as a singlespeed with riser bars, 700C wheels and Tektro R556 brakes, finished up with parts bin stuff I had laying around. After painting the weld with the closest I could find to the black/brown repaint that I think sort of matches the original paint, I painted the lugs silver (to match the head badge). I use it for easy neighborhood rides with family, etc.

The stem is a GB with an exposed bolt, so if it isn't original, it's period correct at least. The original fork was bent, a fact not disclosed by the eBay seller (did I mention that this frame had a hard life?) so I replaced it with a fully chromed fork I found for cheap at Nashbar (?). The original was fully chromed, single eyelets.


Brian

thanks for alll that info brian. that colour sounds awfully like what i found under the rattlecan job. and yes nice looking frame with the chrome rear triangle. same with me twisted/bent forks. thanks for the nashbar tip.