Why are Dawes bikes so under-rated? Not Japanese/Italian maybe?
 

You can buy so many great Dawes bikes here (in UK, and probably USA too) for next to nothing.
OK they were factory made, but all were made by one individual from start to finish.
Hand made sounds like a good, positive, advantageous USP.
I got one yesterday, a Horizon, for £20.
Spent a day cleaning it up a little and adjusting the necessaries.
Look.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5.../SRstem001.jpg
Needs pedals, but I got a nice pair of Lyotards for it.
Needs bar-tape. That won't break the bank.
It is not 531 but it is lighter than my Galaxy that is.
Got good paint and Suntour shifters/deraillers.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5.../SRstem003.jpg

The B17 is being 'run in' and didn't come with it.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5.../SRstem024.jpg

A pair of centre-pulls and a polish is all the extras it's gonna get from me, and all it needs I reckon.
Offers?
Ain't that a nice machine?

They're nice enough bikes for what they are... I've never seen but low to medium level ones here in the US of A, though they may have made nicer ones in the 50s or 60s.

I have an early 70's Dawest Galaxy, Green and Bronze frame with lots of chrome. Reynolds 531. A bit heavier than you'd think, but lots of nice lugwork and detailing (which has mostly faded or been scratched off

Just curious, but what era is that B.17 from? First time I've seen one without chamfering.

-Kurt

As stated earlier, I'm not sure many high end bikes made it over to this part of the world. As far as I know, the Marque hasn't been available in the US for a long time either. That being said, Bikes Direct sells a sub $200 bike badged as a Dawse, and that may have some impact on perception, even though the name has nothing to do with the original Marque.

I only wish they were as available here as in their homeland. I think maybe one of the reasons for a lower cost in England is sheer availability.

Wait, what I've been meaning to say all along is, terrible bikes, not worth having. If you have one in the states, send it to me and I'll be sure it's disposed of properly.:innocent:

I have a line on a 5 sp. Single chain ring up front, 5 sp cog in the back, with rack and fenders. It still has it's original shop sticker from England as well, woohoo.

The Horizon looks nice Vis, a bit of a departure from your usual finds to say the least. I do however have a fondness for the red three sp you showed the other day'!

nice piece of British steel !

The B17 Standard has never been chamfered. Actually, the correct term is skived.

My '71 Dawes Galaxy came with a Brooks B5N

Even during the '60s/70's? The B.17 that recently split on me was a Champion Standard with skiving. My B.15 Champion Standard is sans skiving, but other then the B.15, Viscount's B.17, and the Imperials, I've yet to see anything of the sort.

-Kurt

I just bought a Dawes head badge for almost as much as you paid for the whole thing!
I have a mid-eighties Dawes Atlantis - I think it's a very nice ride. 531 frame with decent, not fancy, components - a bit of a mix but a Suntour Sprint rear derailer and a cyclone MKII front.
One day I hope to find a Galaxy or such that can take wider tires.
Until then, I just hope that they do remain under-rated.

I shouldn't have said never.

Just checking the thread right now and need to go out very shortly, but this one is, I believe, NOS from the 80s.
Need to check the stamps (later) which I believe indicate the date??
I'm sure somebody here will know about that one.

[QUOTE=randomgear;7299063
Until then, I just hope that they do remain under-rated.[/QUOTE]

So do I really:)
Who wants good machines to be 'fashionable' if you are a buyer?
Bit like the Viscounts!
Will reply more fully a little later.

When I first heard of Dawes bikes, in the early 80's, they were said to be excellent UK quality bikes, reasonably priced, a little conservative in styling, and very hard to find. I searched for a new or used Dawes touring bike for some time before buying a new Trek 720 in 1983.

And yes, I heard someone compare them to Viscounts (by a Lambert rider, by the way), with the caveat that Viscounts/Lamberts were made of some proprietary tubing and Dawes were made of 531. You may recall that, at that time, every bicycling magazine carried a full page advertisement for the recall of the Viscount "quick-release" fork (AKA death fork), which made the Dawes seem a far more reliable machine in my eyes.

Yes, the lower end ones are not special, but they are well made, and my Realmrider, from the early 60s is just a sweet bike.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=454108
Cost me £30 and I just sold the Cyclo Benelux derailler for £18.77.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MESO:IT&ih=002
It really suits the 3 speed and I'm loving riding it.

I used to live literally over the road from the Tyseley, Birmingham, Dawes factory in the 80s and knew lots of the people who worked there then.
They really had a pride in their jobs.
Not so sure about the far eastern imported models of today.

Just had a closer look at it and it has 'A 80' stamped on the support which I assume is the year??

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...ooksB17001.jpg
Fits with my info from the previous owner.

But it also has these black ink stamped letters, and I wonder what these are?
The maker perhaps?

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...ooksB17002.jpg

Here's a general pic of the underside.
Has been treated with Neatsfoot oil, but a little stiff obviously.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...ooksB17003.jpg
Looks clean and has never been fitted before yesterday, according to my information.
Looks to be right.

Oh Yeah! Heard that one before somewhere:)
Even the ordinary Dawes are cool I think.
I only tell about the more unusual finds normally, (I only got so much time...) but this Horizon is so nice it deserves saving, and talking about a little.

I love these general threads, you just never know what will turn up, and what you'll learn from them.
There ain't no Brit forums like this one!

Do get the 5 speed and you can turn it into something personal/good.
3 speeds and 'straight' bars can change them totally.
I often treat these types of bikes as starting points....

Yep, conservative, good quality and excellent value for money.
Which is probably why they went down the drain later.
Quality and VFM lost out to price and superficial looks.
(The Galaxy Tourers have a lasting, long term, and well deserved reputation though)
The later imports are not in the same league IMHO.

I think the Viscounts were ahead of their time.
If they'd used 531 tubing maybe they would be a lot more expensive now.
But nothing wrong with the riding qualities of them and now they are so cheap it's ridiculous.
Thanks to the 'death forks' syndrome.
Which I encourage totally, cos it keeps them cheap for the cognocenti.

Where abouts on the support is this, I can't find it anywhere on mine :(

all mine has on the bottom is a stamp - 7 B9

The thing is, the 5 speed is even more clean than my Super Galaxy! That being said, the first thing I thought of was changing the bars.

I have a choice to make though, the Dawes or something else I want to do with a different bike I already have. I doubt the Dawes is going anywhere, so I hope it is still there a bit later. This could all be avoided if I could just bring myself to actually flip some of my "flippers" instead of hanging on to them.:D

I wonder which head-badge you bought?
I've been trying to nail the date when they changed the head-badge from the round multi-coloured one to the oval, simple one that just said Dawes.

And the Atlantis I'm not familiar with.
How about some pics?
I think we could do with a more diverse Dawes thread on here.
They don't get enough attention IMHO.

If it were me I'd get the 5 speed and drop the one at the bottom of my list.
I always keep a 'top ten' list of my herd for just that reason:)
They all circulate in time, don't they?

Putting the straight bars (+ 3 speed) on my Realmrider totally changed it.
Much for the better I think.

Me not sure about that.
Position on the frame should be clear on my photo for mine, but maybe they stamped it in other positions also.
I think that the number was stamped on the under-frame up to a certain date, and then??

Did you search the forum?
I haven't, but maybe should:o

As a longtime Dawes owner, I have to say that my Double Blue is probably my all-time favorite bike. I picked up the frame in 1980 after my Raleigh Record lost a battle with a car, and moved the Record's components over to the Dawes. In '82, the rear dropout broke, so I went to the distributor (located in Connecticut at the time), who graciously gave me another Double Blue frame for free. I suspect that was the last Double Blue frame to come into the US, and I have it to this day.

A couple of years ago, I decided that Double Blue needed to be repainted, and stripped the bike to bare metal. I must admit that I was surprised by the sloppy brazing that I found under the paint. Lots of globs of brass and many gaps around the lugs. Not really up to the standards that I have seen on some good Italian bikes, although it's certainly held together.

The sloppy brazing doesn't effect the ride or handling of the bike, which is as nice (or nicer) than any bike I've ridden. I hope to continue riding it for another 25 years.

I'd love to find a Galaxy to go with it.

Atlantis, as received:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2159/...d72c724f_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/...0f8ddbb66d.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/...549a459b_m.jpg

I acquired it in a trade. Don't hate me, but it is currently set up as an around town fixed gear (45x18). I stripped some parts for other bikes. I am unsure of its fate, it is really a bit small for me (57cm seat tube). All tubes seem to be 531c, it is a very light frame. It does fit 32c tires.