Dawes Galaxy - Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly

Picked this lovely chappy up yesterday for the low sum of £51, unsurprisingly it is not in A1 condition, however it appeared to be rideable, just needing some new bar tape to make it a comfy cruiser.

I got it home and gave it a good clean as it was covered in years of grime and signs of neglect.

Whilst cleaning I noticed a small dent on the down tube, nothing to worry about but still there, however I am worried about what looks like a crack on the bottom bracket shell (In pictures below if anyone wants to give me their opinion), I can't decide what's the caused the crack but my best guess is a very tight BB.

I'm unsure whether the crack is a write off for the frame or whether it can be ridden as is?

Any advice on the crack or anything else to do with the bike would be much appreciated.

I'm not 100% on the spec - Alero Duralinum Crankset, Suntour VX shifters and derailleurs, Weinmann Vanquier Brakes with some kind of add on lever attachment Weinmann 27 inch Wheelset, GB? Touring Radonneur Bars(My guess based on eBay)

That's a fatigue crack from repeated stressing. It'll spread of you keep riding it. You could probably get away with simply drilling a 3mm hole at the end of the crack to stop it spreading. I think for peace of mind you'd probably want to get a bead of weld put over the top of the crack. If you don't vee the crack and then don't grind the weld bead back, you'll probably get away without having to re-thread the bottom bracket shell.

Jonny69":38lxd42h said:

That's a fatigue crack from repeated stressing. It'll spread of you keep riding it. You could probably get away with simply drilling a 3mm hole at the end of the crack to stop it spreading. I think for peace of mind you'd probably want to get a bead of weld put over the top of the crack. If you don't vee the crack and then don't grind the weld bead back, you'll probably get away without having to re-thread the bottom bracket shell.

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Thanks for that, not sure it is worth doing on such a cheap bike or whether to split the parts and get my money back, keeping an eye out for another 65cm+ frame (Could be a long wait).

Any idea what sort of charge there is for that kind of repair?

Well it's easy for me to say because I've got a drill and a MIG welder...

Do you know anyone who can weld? You probably want a local car classic restorer or something, might charge you £20? It's actually only a very quick job.

Cheers for that, managed to sort out the welding, just need to strip and clean the frame.

Now debating whether to refurbish the whole frame or leave it tatty.

Rust looks really bad in a few places.

Bats":t5rvf8nl said:

Rust looks really bad in a few places.

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Really?

Worst spot seems to be the chain stay brace, going to clean all the rust off with some Nitromors and a wire brush, see what I'm looking at.

Even if the frame is not redeemable hopefully parting it out will net me around £100, so not all bad.

Ride carefully and keep an eye on the BB shell.

Spokesmann":1q9u42ov said:

Ride carefully and keep an eye on the BB shell.

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Will definitely be getting it welded, want to use the bike for touring so don't like the idea of the BB dropping out a fair way from home.

At the moment it's just a matter of whether to filler the dent, primer and then paint with something hardy and ride it or send it off to Argos and buy some original decals, don't really think option B is worth the added expense.

I struggle to ride carefully, there's a reason I had to buy a 65cm frame

If you're going to split it I would be interested in the mechs. PM me if you do.