Dawes Edge 1993 Resurrection, 12/02/2011 With Story & sp

[passiflora]

SPECIFICATION LIST 12/02/2011
SPECIFICATION LIST

Current spec :-

Frame & Forks

18 " Reynolds 653 frame with Tripple butted Project 2.

Wheels

Mavic Citroen Sup on XT Parellex Hubs, New 7 speed Sram Cassette.

Drive Chain

Deore DX Thumbshifters. Deore XT Rear Mech, Deore LX Front Mech, Deore LX Compact Chainset with Strongarm rings.

Bars and Stem

Dawes original Polished

Brakes

Machine Polished 2 finger Cantilever (NOS)

Avid Cantilever (NOS)

Saddle

San Marco Limited Edition Titanium UNION JACK (lighter than a Flite)


THE STORY

My first proper MTB was a Dawes Fat Chance.
So when the chance came to own this Dawes The Edge 653. I jumped at it.

A week after I had the new Dawes I spent a very enjoyable time cycling around Bognor regis, along the coast, riding along the beach etc which was great.

The bike was in great condition, with lovely pristine paintwork apart from the toptube which had surface rust. The cables had never been changed and it had odd wheels.

The first job was to treat the toptube and respray the affected area. I found a pretty perfect match.

I then brought some new wheels from CTK (Mavic Citroen Sup on XT Parallex, Tom very kindly fitted a new Sram 7 speed cassette for me).

The front suspension forks (Suntour) were a gorgeous colour match but just not very good, I orginally replaced these with a White Brothers XC suspension fork, but found this to be cracked!. As a solution I got hold of some nice project 2 forks, sorted.

I decided to fit some bling anodised spacers and that I wanted thumbshifters. I fitted some nice Deore DX Thumbshifters and a mint Deore XT Rear mech.

The bars and stem I decided to keep as I like the polished look and they fitted me just right, I added some machine polished 2 finger Cantilever to go along with the polished look.

New silver Avid cantilevers replaced the black LX ones. Cables where replaced and the finishing touch a new rare

San Marco Titanium Limited Edition Union Jack saddle finished things of.

So it's a sort of homage to my first proper Mountain bike (only better)

Thanks to the following Retrobikers

CTK
Retro Klein
Masker
Easy Rider

 

[chrisv40]

Nice, always liked Dawes

I would guess at 93/94 with that Lx groupset.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Nice!

It's a 1993 btw... check out my catalogue scan here http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=438738

Yes, it's a 653 frame, nice tubeset. Forks won't be original, they are a later addition, along with the ahead stem.

 

[passiflora]

Thanks chrisv and easy rider
Was told the forks are manitou.. not sure which model.

The stem and bars although highly shined appear to have no name

. This bike also has a weird cable tention adjuster for the rear mech on the top tube.

Paintwork is excellent, apart from the toptube which has some surface rust near the cable guides. I probably didnt help this by riding in the sea




Will be keeping this pretty much as is, its a lovely ride and I see no reason to change it much at the moment.

Need to sort out the rust. Match paint etc.

Sort out the large chain ring, and would like a silver top cap for the stem, and thats it for now.

 

[mattbrown]

I owned briefly a 1993 Off Limits before robbing it for parts for my Kirk

 

[chiswickcollectables]

Definitely liking the early Dawes mtb models... always thought the Dawes Fat Chance was a lovely looking bike, the yellow one, poss 1989.

 

[passiflora]

Resurrection part 1.. Paint

Over the next week got a few bits coming for this gorgeous British bird.


Started on the nasty surface rust around the front cable bosses today, Rust treated, primed and painted.

Spent most of the day on this, took a chance and picked a colour out from halfords and its a exact match. The bloody rain spoiled the top coat though, I still need to lightly rub the area down and lightly blend plus laqueer, but I amazed at the match.

Anyway, before and after shots.

( please note the camera I used is high resolution it's actually a far better match to the naked eye, the sprayed area doesn't look so rough either, though I will be giving this a light rub down and blend, once the paint is fully dry).

 

[Easy_Rider]

wow great job

 

[coomber]

Very cool

 

[tiboltrider]

Hi Pf.

What colour paint did you buy from Halfords please? I need a touch-up pen for my tandem.

P.s. Lovin' the colour matched forks - might have to copy that idea as well!