Dawes Brighton Dutch bicycle

[Mark Manley]

I made the mistake of going on FB marketplace the other day and an advert for a Dawes 3 speed caught my eye, having something of a liking for English 3 speeds I clicked on it and what appeared to be a Dutch bicycle came up reduced to £25 must go by Sunday. I messaged the seller and arranged to view it having noticed the drum brakes and Reynolds sticker which was just about visible in the photos, it turned out to be a 7 speed having a Sachs hub gear and a 501 frame, money changed hands and I cycled back to the station on it.

Initial impressions only having ridden it about 3 miles are that it is huge compared to my other roadsters which all have a similar upright riding position, it will take some more use before I decide whether or not to keep it but it is a bit of a handful. It is a Brighton model and the only place I can find anything about it is in a Dutch brochure from 1993 and given the sticker on the rear mudguard it was made for that market and has been repatriated at some point.

I plan to strip it down and polish the paintwork which is not bad but rather dull and give it a full service and going over, only then after some more miles will I decide on its ultimate fate, added to the collection or at least try to sell it, although I am not sure if the curiosity factor of it being a genuine Dutch model would make it any more desirable than any of the other hundreds of cheaper bikes that are for sale at the moment.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Bargain for £25, I'd remove the basket as I have a pathological dislike of them. The skirt guard would probably go to seven speed in your area would be very usable.

 

[grantoury]

A proper bicycle in Reynolds steel is definitely worth it in my view. It has been done before, see Joco Ronde van Europa and Gazelle superlicht for instance. But a nice find for 25 quid. A "Dutch" bicycle tends to feel less sporty but adjusting saddle height and lowering the handlebar will change the feel a lot.

 

[grantoury]

A more sporty saddle and handlebar could work too.

 

[winjohn]

Very interesting bike, problem is that there are too may interesting bikes around for silly money atm. Reminds me of my Dawes Nomad.

 

[chickendrumsticks]

Bargain for £25, I'd remove the basket as I have a pathological dislike of them. The skirt guard would probably go to seven speed in your area would be very usable.

Won't be able to wear a skirt then?

 

[winjohn]

This one

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Won't be able to wear a skirt then?

Not during the week duh

 

[Mark Manley]

Bargain for £25, I'd remove the basket as I have a pathological dislike of them. The skirt guard would probably go to seven speed in your area would be very usable.

There you go, I have to agree it looks better.



But I did not stop there, it was a rather portly 18 kg originally but the frame only is 2.3 kg so something more reasonable should be possible especially getting rid of that rear wheel lock which weighs as much as a half decent steel cable lock. There were a couple of surprises the first one being it is not black as my slightly colour blind eyes were fooled by the grime into thinking but a very nice metallic purple including the mudguards and chainguard.
The other was the press in bottom bracket, I spent ages trying to grip the plastic cap to unscrew it.



A nice English bike deserves some English hubs and I have a pair of SA drum braked 5 speed ones which I plan to use.