Dawes cyclocross bikes

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As it seems that none of the larger makes turned there building skills towards cx i guess thats the reason so few older bikes seem to crop up on the second hand market ? Or they are all crashed and broken !! or is there a secret vintage cx bike market that a select few jnow about my interest in this has been stured by missing out on a Sunn cx bike on Ebay that has been through the hands of a couple of members on here before Mike (mikemuz) purchased it on my behalf he's a good man the slow building process will start soon !!

Mick

I am having a look around for old steel cx frames/bikes but there aren't many about.

On the bay there is a John Pavey complete bike which looks decent and very 90's and a blue/white frame of unknown make. The latter has some nice details but the detail i dont like is the split steerer tube and oval headtube!

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Yeah. Good luck finding some old nice steel CX framesets even here at RB.

Oddly, the Alan CX framesets crop up on the bay every so often.

Pretty sure i remember seeing an Alan cx frame and fork a week or so ago on the bay. It was a bit rough round the edges and needed decals but looked sound. There are a few touring things kicking about with canti bosses so might hoover one of those up one day and just whip the guards off and throw on the cx wheelset.

Will just dream on finding something tasty

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found this in australia, groupo not original, brake bosses un drilled, original paint from what i see

hamster":3j96gfdq said:

As older frames had bigger clearances a cross bike was often simply created by taking a winter training bike, removing the guards and swapping the wheels.
Elmy Cycles kept the flame alive with dedicated bikes, along with Paul Milnes.

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This is the answer.

There wasn't the need because the base sporting models could do the job.

The closest they came was the Dawes Windrush of the 1950s which was aimed at the Rough Stuff fraternity. It had its pump pegs moved from the top tube to the seat tube to make shouldering it more comfortable. Heaps of clearance - it can take 42mm tyres. Hence no problem with cx tyres. Reynolds 531, of course.

Here's a pic of one in its element, and it handles well in it. It's not a super lightweight, but by no means heavy.



Other models of that era that would be attractive for off road use would be the likes of the Rudge Pathfinder (also 531) - particularly as it had a reinforced steerer. Its frame was shared with the Raleigh Lenton, Humber Clipper and a Triumph Torrington. I'm not sure if they had the reinforced steerer though because they had different forks.

Old CX frames are a bit of a rarity even here.

Heres my Orbit 653 from somewhere back in the late 80's/ early 90's



and I re-purposed a Norman Faye tourer into a bit of an off-roader, it did the job very well

legrandefromage":3crdjthk said:

Old CX frames are a bit of a rarity even here.

Heres my Orbit 653 from somewhere back in the late 80's/ early 90's

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nice, the dawes i saw is also 653