Dawes Galaxy - Refurb Complete.

[Montague Rhodes]

...mostly.

Thanks to the people that replied to me on my threads during the build.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/contactjo ... ed-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/contactjo ... ed-public/

That's the finished bike, stripped, cleaned and regreased.

The only significant change - financially - is the saddle, a new red brooks saddle. The only other new things I needed came to barely £30.

There are a few issues with the bike:

Those brake blocks are hateful! What would you swap them out for, to fit on the original centre pull and rims?

The gearing is slightly harder than my Sportive bike! Folk were made of sterner stuff back in the 70's/80's.

I need a new simple chrome/metal bottle rack.

I need to sort out the gear cable length. ...but I've been lazy about it.

I would like to repaint the lugs. The gold painted lines show the only obvious wear in the paintwork.

 

[pigman]

Re:

looks good.

don't change the brake calipers - I have some on one of my bikes and they are nearly as good as modern dual pivots brakes. I have some modern moulded blocks on mine.

I'd get rid of the suicide levers, but they do add period authenticity, so that's a bit of a choice.

Find out the chainset's BCD and see if Spa Cycles have a smaller replacement inner ring. or get an old stronglight/TA touring chainset. I agree, they would be high gears for me in the peaks too.

 

[nonowt]

Re:

Not cheap but some of these should make a big difference:

https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collecti ... ovo-record

They should just fit into your original brake pad holders.

 

[Montague Rhodes]

Re: Re:

looks good.

don't change the brake calipers - I have some on one of my bikes and they are nearly as good as modern dual pivots brakes. I have some modern moulded blocks on mine.

Thanks.
You're correct in thinking that |I wanted to keep as many original component as I could, so like the post below recommends I'll get ome Koolstops. (£20 - fully 1/5 of what I paid for the bike. Mad isn't it?)

looks good.
I'd get rid of the suicide levers, but they do add period authenticity, so that's a bit of a choice.

lol. I'm leaving them for now for the same reasons as above, just not using them when riding. Does their mere presence cause issues for braking?

looks good.
Find out the chainset's BCD and see if Spa Cycles have a smaller replacement inner ring. or get an old stronglight/TA touring chainset. I agree, they would be high gears for me in the peaks too.

Great idea, but.. (I think the crankset is 42 / 50. I know that it's an SR custom crankset, btw.) I wouldn't know where to start in replacing one so old? I'd think an email to Spa Cycles would be my best bet? They've come up in many a search but again I've never used them.

Not cheap but some of these should make a big difference:

https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collecti ... ovo-record

They should just fit into your original brake pad holders.

Thanks for that link.

 

[bruise willies]

Re:

Looking good! It looks to be a similar age to the one I have sitting about. 120mm rear end and 27" wheels, I take it?

 

[Montague Rhodes]

Re: Re:

Looking good! It looks to be a similar age to the one I have sitting about. 120mm rear end and 27" wheels, I take it?

Aye. Still perfectly true too - I very much doubt it ever toured beyond the local shops.

 

[BobToo]

I found that the Clarks CP100 brake pads you get in Halfords both look the part and worked well on my Galaxy. Before that I had a set of Velo Orange salmon pads, which were awful.

 

[Montague Rhodes]

I found that the Clarks CP100 brake pads you get in Halfords both look the part and worked well on my Galaxy. Before that I had a set of Velo Orange salmon pads, which were awful.

Yes, they look pretty much identical. They're also very cheap in comparison with the others I've looked at.