ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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Jul 26, 2017 16:19:16 GMT
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I've been doing a fair bit of riding lately with Ride London and my own charity bike ride looming in the next couple of months. One of my main opportunities to get out on the bike is to commute to my office; but at only 5.5 miles door to door, it seemed a little excessive getting fully shoe'd and lycra'd up to use my road bike to do the journey. This triggered a light bulb in my head when I stumbled across this for sale (fairly) locally for the sum of £25...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr Advertised simply as "60's Dawes Bike" I just had to have it. At first I thought it was a Galaxy, likely from the early 70's; but with the decals perished, no real names could be made out. It did however have the nice foil decals still present on the seat tube and forks which suggest it's actually a Dawes 55 (or double five as they're known). Can't find any information of one existing in this colour (think they were meant to be blue with contrasting fenders/details) but from what I can gather they are similar to the galaxy, but a model below. Anyway, here's some images of it when I got it...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr The handlebar detailing is just epic!  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr |
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Jul 26, 2017 21:55:51 GMT
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Lovely, Loads of potential with that.
Good luck with the RideLondon, I'm doing it too!
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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Lovely, Loads of potential with that. Good luck with the RideLondon, I'm doing it too! Nice one! I did it last year too but feel much less prepared this year, just haven't had the time to train enough for it! |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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The main plan with this was to keep it as original (and cheap) as possible. Basically, strip down, clean up and rebuild. The tyres had perished so fresh amberwalls were purchased as was new bar tape and a replacement saddle for the plastic 80's bmx seat that had somehow found it's way on there... Then it was just a case of cleaning off the 40+ years of grime from it...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr The contents of the bottom bracket were interesting...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr All bearings/cups/races etc. were stripped down and cleaned, regreased and put back together...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr It's by no means show quality, but it's being built to be used so didn't care really |
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2017 8:11:17 GMT by ade36
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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The chrome on the forks had started to lift in a few places. Probably should have left it be but started picking...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr Ended up with this:  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr As I said, this needs to be cheap so getting parts re-chromed is well out of its league. Instead, a bit of autosol on a cloth wrapped around an electric sander and after a couple of minutes they came up lovely. Here it is half polished:  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr |
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2017 8:09:50 GMT by ade36
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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So now I am sitting with a pile of shiny bits to go back on and I turn my attention to the frame. I like a bit of patina and I did want to keep this bike fairly original; however, them more I looked at it, the more I wanted to respray it. I'm still not sure if it was the right decision, but it's done now. A quick sand showed just how pitted and bad the original paint was (brown hides a lot of sins!)  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr I wanted to keep the colour to a similar vintage and toyed with colours for a while. I had narrowed it down to either a beige or a green. In the end, Vauxhall Reed green was chosen, mainly as the local Halfords stocked it.  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr I got as much lacquer on it as I could to try and give the paint some resilience to cycling life and then got to putting everything back together again...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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Rebuilding the bottom bracket. Cottered cranks are an interesting setup...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr Before stripping it down I had noticed that the front chainrings fouled the frame on every rotation as they didn't sit square. With the chainrings and axle off I couldn't see any obvious bends or deformation that would cause this. Needless to say, once it was rebuilt, I had the same issue. I could convert it to a more modern square taper bottom bracket but I really wanted the key components to stay original. As a short term fix I've mounted the chainrings on the outside of the spider rather than on the inside... Not ideal, but its solves the problem for now  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr |
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2017 9:36:46 GMT by ade36
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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And this is how it stayed for a long time... In a state of "nearly there but currently unrideable" Then, following a tyre failure on my Specialized road bike and with the wife commandeering the car for the day for other tasks, I was stuck with no way to get to the office. I dragged this out of the garage and stuck on the bare essentials to get it moving, rear derailleur, rusty pedals, new chain and loosely cabled front brake. I could finally take it out for a spin! (Albeit with next to no stopping ability and stuck in top gear as the shifters weren't installed yet.) I have since cabled the rear derailleur which makes it a 5 speed for now. It still needs the rear brake installing and cabling, the front derailleur installing and cabling and the front brake installed properly. I'll have to replace the original brake pads too as they literally do nothing! After that I can think about decals and accessories (dynamo lights, L'Eroica bottle cages etc). So far I've covered about 50 miles on it in it's unfinished state and I absolutely love the thing...  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr  Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr |
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 1,983
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Jul 27, 2017 13:10:00 GMT
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That looks great!
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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village
Part of things
Always carries a toolbox. Because Volkswagen.......
Posts: 567
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Jul 27, 2017 17:35:59 GMT
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my mate Cherry is doing the Ride London as part of the Fixing Challenge team (Like Fixing Dad last year but this time there's four of them). don't speed past her on your bike though, she's a Copper.....
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"The White Van is strong with this one...."
Chris "Chesney" Allen 1976-2005 RIP
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I can see why your having issues working out what it is. the colour points to a 77 galaxy but the bar says it's a double 5. because dawes have never released serial numbers for their bikes you can't trace it that way so you normally end up trying to work it out on components. only real difference between a 55 and a galaxy is the brake levers and the deraileur (simplex on a galaxy, huret on a d5), which pushes it towards being the galaxy, but as it's something the could have been "upgraded" it's a tough one to call it on. short of cutting it in half and measuring the tubing, the galaxy being reynold 531. Also the detail around the seat stay join is the same as on my carlton, puts it as a 77 model but as both the 55 and the galaxy had it. does it matter? not really.  additional note, that saddle was original instead of a BMX add on. they make a modern saddle feel like a silk stroke from a nubile princess. I got the same saddle on my similar vintage Carlton GP when I bought that as a frame with the bits he couldn't get off. it wound up on a chopper. your choose of a charge spoon is perfect, super nice saddle and considerable better than sticking a brooks on it. do you have your BB axle in backwards? one of the modifications that was popular (apparently) at the time was to pick out the lugs with a little bit pinstripping around them. on your chosen colour I reckon a nice silver (or dare I say it gold) detail would be a nice touch. otherwise, super nice bike, and great to see one that isn't being turned in to a "Fixie" (I hate that term). happy riding. |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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Jul 28, 2017 13:10:50 GMT
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I can see why your having issues working out what it is. the colour points to a 77 galaxy but the bar says it's a double 5. because dawes have never released serial numbers for their bikes you can't trace it that way so you normally end up trying to work it out on components. only real difference between a 55 and a galaxy is the brake levers and the deraileur (simplex on a galaxy, huret on a d5), which pushes it towards being the galaxy, but as it's something the could have been "upgraded" it's a tough one to call it on. short of cutting it in half and measuring the tubing, the galaxy being reynold 531. Also the detail around the seat stay join is the same as on my carlton, puts it as a 77 model but as both the 55 and the galaxy had it. does it matter? not really. additional note, that saddle was original instead of a BMX add on. they make a modern saddle feel like a silk stroke from a nubile princess. I got the same saddle on my similar vintage Carlton GP when I bought that as a frame with the bits he couldn't get off. it wound up on a chopper. your choose of a charge spoon is perfect, super nice saddle and considerable better than sticking a brooks on it. do you have your BB axle in backwards? one of the modifications that was popular (apparently) at the time was to pick out the lugs with a little bit pinstripping around them. on your chosen colour I reckon a nice silver (or dare I say it gold) detail would be a nice touch. otherwise, super nice bike, and great to see one that isn't being turned in to a "Fixie" (I hate that term). happy riding. You know your stuff! Thanks for the info. Yep, no way that this was going fixed... would be sacrilege on a vintage bike if you ask me. From what you have said I would take an educated guess that this is a D5 with some upgrades (simplex derailleur etc). As much as is like to say that my bike is Reynolds 531, there was no decals remaining to confirm that and it's likely it isn't. But I'm pretty sure I'd never notice the difference in a real world application anyway! The charge spoon saddle is pretty comfy (much more so than my Specialized) and was a practical bit of modernisation for a bike I'm planning on actually using; but was disappointed with the colour match with the charge bar tape, I may have to change the tape at a later date... Yes, would very much like to do some detailing around the lugs |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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So after a summer of occasional use (mainly for seafront cruising and fetching wine from the off license)...  It was once again time to roll the Dawes out of the garage for occasional commuting duties... She was always intended to be a tourer rather than a racer, so fenders and panniers beckoned...  A Bobbin rear rack and SKS longboards seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I'm intending on spraying the fenders at a later date, but for now, it's just a case of getting them on and getting some use out of it. |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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  I'm pretty pleased with how this is turning out... And with wet country roads on the way in today my feet didn't have a speck on them! |
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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Now it's back on commuting duties I figured I should probably address the braking issues. From what I could gather, this thing was still rocking the original pads; needless to say, they didn't work very well. An upgrade was called for and I went with some clarkes pads from Halfords... Mainly as they were local and in stock. They're not exactly in keeping with the vintage look but they are subtle enough once they are mounted on the original calipers; and more importantly, they actually work!  For £4.50 (online price which I got them to match in store - usually £7.99) I couldn't really complain and the stopping difference is huge. Also I had a little fettle with the fender adjustment so now I'm a bit happier with the gaps (namely the front fender overhang). Once I'm 100% I can trim the ends of the fender stays and get the end caps on |
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Last Edit: Feb 6, 2018 13:30:34 GMT by ade36
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lightyearman
Part of things
GYJDM - Grimsby based Japanese car club - Find us on Facebook
Posts: 639
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That looks really cool, I wish my short legs lent themselves to that kind of bike haha
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'89 Honda CRX siR Glassroof Flint black fully restored track beasty
'90 Nissan S13 Pignose - pass the mig wire
'86 Mini - matt orange, 13" Wellers, Project 2018
'97 LDV Convoy home built camper/tramper van
'04 Saab 9-5 Aero HOT. Anyone want it?
'91 Honda VFR400 NC30 17,000 km from new
'87 Honda XR80 4 stroke baby crosser
'03 Mini Cooper S - honestly, they are fun...
'15 VW T5.1 LWB daily brick
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ade36
Part of things
Posts: 509
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So I had an idea a while back, and with the sunny weekend I thoughts i'd give the old Dawes a bit of attention...  Et voila... Custom bar end caps  Ridiculous? Possibly. Practical? Not really. But quirky? Yes, I like them. Popped over to a local bike jumble and couldn't resist a new bell and front light  But also got hold of a 52/42 crankset. I'm still having the issue with the cottered setup not sitting square which has been preventing me from installing and using the from derailleur. So it's getting converted to a square taper bottom bracket; it's not original, but hopefully it will allow me to go from a 5 speed to a 10!  |
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Last Edit: Apr 23, 2018 7:42:44 GMT by ade36
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I really like your bike mate. Brings back some memories.
I bought to Raleigh's and built one awesome bike out of the two. Painted it a light blue collor.
I really liked that bike. It was very similar to your bike. It was a fast and comfortable bike.
Some &%^$^ stole it. Never seen it again
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GJUK
Part of things
Posts: 238 
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Apr 24, 2018 22:49:34 GMT
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Holy ****.
When I saw the opening post, I thought "okay old bike".
In that shade of period green. That is amazing.
Quality resto, I want one!
J
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Great bike for £25, but that saddle position !
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