Dawes Super Galaxy - Early 1980s 531 - Questions and upgrades to early 1990s spec

Canti mounts make it an 80s frame.
That saddle is appalling; would you like a Rolls?
How ( as a giraffe like me ) do you survive without bar end shifters?
NEVER give up that splendid bar and stem under any circumstances.
It's stamped 75 on the BB area, and the canti mounts might have been added during the respray apparently.

Haha ah, anything is an improvement on the Fuji one though. This was the only spare that's not in tatters, and I don't want to cannibalise another bike I have for its white Turbo. Thanks for the kind offer, but I prefer the Turbo over the Rolls, not sure why. Saddle is an easy swap later anyway.

I think I am used to down tube shifters from using them for many years on another bike. Also one less thing to route around the bars. And keeps the Giro d'Italia with its classic shaped drops looking nice and clean, with only the brake cables up there and no end shifters.

Ha ah thanks, yes this is my favourite combo.

Oh yes, aero and non aero, of course. My brain isn't working in this heat. Any aero advantages will quickly be negated by my pandemic pounds though.
 
Thank you. I think it should be underneath the paint, yes. The sticker just says "531 Renovated".
Asked as I thought the ST tubes (seemed to recall the Super Galaxy builds had them as really good touring bikes) took 27.2 posts. Is the one you have not stuck (so you could take it out and see if there’s diameter stamped on the seatpost)?
Super nice project as well :)
 
Asked as I thought the ST tubes (seemed to recall the Super Galaxy builds had them as really good touring bikes) took 27.2 posts. Is the one you have not stuck (so you could take it out and see if there’s diameter stamped on the seatpost)?
Super nice project as well :)
It came with what I think is a 26.8 (the silver post in the first photos), which was wobbling in the seat tube a bit when I loosened the bolt, so it may have been one of those "We will just use what we have" rushed jobs by a bad bike shop, or the previous owner didn't know what they were doing. 27.0 is correct for this frame, as I tried my 27.2 ones and they didn't fit. The black one in the photos is the new 27.0 post I bought for it. I am fat so it slipped immediately with normal grease. Trying Fibre Grip now instead. Just want to carefully use a torque wrench so I don't break anything.

And thank you. Hopefully will finish today. Just need a replacement straddle cable for the front brake as the cable wouldn't thread through the old one and it had some damage to it. Will post photos when it's done.

Considering if to fit pannier racks / a front low rider, or just a bar bag and small seat pack. I don't really like the bike packing look with long bags attached all around the frame. Quite like the idea of just a front low rider, and the small seat pack. But need to see how it would attach to this older fork without the rack mounts half way up the fork legs (it has the eyelet mounts by the dropout).

One Q too: When installing a new front brake cable for the canti brake, do I leave this little lever in the flipped up or down position? I am guessing flipped up, so no tension? And then flip it down to give it tension after I have installed the new cable?

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Oh my god you've a tension release cam on your headset cable stop....HOW COOL IS THAT?!

...and I want one!
Are they unusual? I'm not an expert with tensioners.

Stage 1 done. Thought this seemed like the best routing for the front brake. So I ended up with a bit of "looping over the top" cable after all -_- RIP aero dreams. Will give it a King cage and some other bits soon.

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Before shot again:

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