Dawes found! But what model is it?

No, the paintstripper didn't do the original paint any good at all!! Its gone a bit sticky, and there was over run left on over night by mistake, that took the paint off back the metal!

I have no intentions of building this bike up again, its not my bag at all, and some of the parts are now on my Trekker and the rest will go on something else soon enough I'm sure.

The frame is still here, I cant bring myself to bin it but its still free for anyone who wants it.

Changed my mind!

I was looking for a winter hack bike that I can get muddy and leave outside without worrying too much about it. I got outbid on some junk on e bay and then I realised I had everything I need already! No idea what this frame will ride like but it should do.

Found a local bloke to paint it for £60 (was highly recomended too) and so I just need to strip the rest of the paint off and decide on a colour.

Any recomendations for colour appreciated, I could use the original green colour or just start fresh. If left to me I might just go black! But so far I think use the original green with black forks, but orange is high on the possible list as well. I'm not going to bother with any fancy fades or anything as that will cost more and not really necessary.

I ahd though about making it single speed but again that costs. I have the chainring set from my trekker but the middle one is worn, so I had an idea.......has anybody tried making a simple 7 speed bike? Using the large ring in the middle place setting on the cranks so that you can easily use the full range of gears at the rear, giving a 7 speed bike with just the one changer???

I might have to try it out. The less I spend on this one the better, seeing as it was a chance find in some nettles!!!!

Ok, I am bored of paint stripping now! The first layer of household gloss came off ok but after that it was just a sticky mess that took a bit of work to remove.

The difficult bit.......

Ready for painting.

The guy who is painting it will give it a quick going over with a sandblaster to finish off any awkward corners, but I took it to him today and he reckons I have done a good enough job.

Colour is going to be a very boring dark green, in keeping with my opinion of Dawes bikes as being a classic old English brand of gentlemans bicycles!

Lovely lugwork on that frame and forks, would have been a crime to put it on the tip. Got a feeling it's going to end up being too nice to leave outside .

Yes, me too! Now that I have invested some real time (and the £60 for painting) I think I am going to end up liking it more and more!

Got the frame back today......

Looks really good, great choice of colour.

Very nice, can't help thinking some gold outlining of the lugs would finish this nicely.