Dawes Mixte Galaxy 1988 rebuild

I'm a new member on here. This will be my third bike build of recent times. First was a rattle can rebuild of my 1979 Raleigh dragged out of my parents' shed, second was a new build winter bike (Planet X Kaffenback, steel of course). This time it is my other half's 1988 Dawes Lady Galaxy, a bike that she loves to ride, not for touring but just to get out on. We picked it up off t'ebay a couple of years ago for £70 and not done much work on it except keeping it roadworthy. The paintwork was in a shocking state so it had to get a respray.

Well it was dispatched to Bob Jackson's in Leeds last month and I've just picked it up and got it home. I am well pleased with the metallic cobalt blue paint job, I only hope I can get the rest of it looking nearly as good.

Hopefully by documenting my build here, the 'retro gurus' will keep me right, and maybe someone else will be inspired to have a go.

Looks very elegant indeed. Look forward to seeing the build progress.

Lovely paint, did jacksons do the decals too?

Yes, they did a great job reproducing the original decals, I was just a little disappointed with the Reynolds 531st decal. It is not actually a decal, just a sticker, and is different to the original one, looks more modern, and is not lacquered over. But never mind, maybe I'm a bit too fussy.

If you want the right 531 decal, Nick at H Lloyd will help you out:

http://www.hlloydcycles.com/page5.htm

You can never be too fussy

Thanks, I think I saw Lloyds decals when I was researching earlier last year. I'll maybe change that later.

I have now fitted the bottom bracket, head badge and headset, but not without problems. The headset is a JIS size, the original one being a Hatta Swan. Unfortunately the crown race was damaged so I couldn't re-use it, shame because the chrome on it is perfect. The only JIS headset I could find online was a Shimano 105 at Spa Cycles, but it just wouldn't look right, being grey anodised. So going back into the workshop, I examined the headset on a 1970's 'parts donor' Claud Butler that I recently acquired. How lucky, it turned out to be a JIS headset too, and the chrome was in great condition. The crown race wouldn't fit with the Hatta Swan, so I used the whole thing, and the stack height is perfect too, using the brake hanger.

Now I'm onto polishing alloy parts. I've started with 1000grade wetordry followed by a metal polish. It is slow. Can anyone recommend any other methods? I have got a polishing wheel on my bench grinder, but no compound as yet. What sort of compound should I be looking for to use this? Also do I protect the polished parts with lacquer or something afterwards to keep the shine?
Thanks in anticipation.

Bruce

Phew that's nice

Use Autosolv polish on the alloy parts, nothing matches it.

If your alloys parts are anodised dipping in Oven Pride will remove the anodising, normally it takes about 8 - 10 mins. Then I use a fine compound on a polishing mop and finish off with Autosol. Should come up like a mirror

Thanks for the advice. Progress has been a bit slow, but I've polished and fitted a few parts. I've done a lot of work on the Stronglight 80 chainset. It was in poor condition and needed quite a bit of filing to remove some bad scratches. It's not perfect but I'm pleased with the result.


I fell into a trap with the bottom bracket. I had a nice shiny one the correct length and offset, that I had bought off ebay. When I came to fit the front derailleur I found that the chainline was out by several mm. After much head scratching and forum searches, it turns out my old BB was ISO and the new one is JIS. Anyway I've cleaned up the old one and all is good again.

Next step is to clean and fit the brakes.