Big Hammer
Retro Newbie
Hi, I've lurked on here for some time but just registered. I prefer stuff that's got a lugged steel frame and was made in England, which pretty much rules out 99% of modern bikes!
I wanted to ask about the possible age of a few bikes, but I'll keep it to one per thread, so here goes with the first one:-
Recently acquired, needing some TLC, a Dawes Leopard MTB, a fairly decent quality looking machine with a fully rigid lugged frame made of Reynolds 500, light alloy 26" rims and 21 indexed gears. I can find out absolutely nothing about these bikes online, and I haven't found this model in any old Dawes catalogue either. It's in a two-tone red and black colour scheme, and has a conventional triangle frame with a more or less horizontal top tube. Has anyone on here got one themselves or do you know when these were being made? I'm guessing at the early 1990's looking at the frame design and paintwork. The guy I got it from said he'd owned it from new and bought it at least 20 years ago but couldn't remember exactly when.
He said it "wasn't a cheap bike new" and had done thousands of miles on it, which I can believe as it's well used!
I wanted to ask about the possible age of a few bikes, but I'll keep it to one per thread, so here goes with the first one:-
Recently acquired, needing some TLC, a Dawes Leopard MTB, a fairly decent quality looking machine with a fully rigid lugged frame made of Reynolds 500, light alloy 26" rims and 21 indexed gears. I can find out absolutely nothing about these bikes online, and I haven't found this model in any old Dawes catalogue either. It's in a two-tone red and black colour scheme, and has a conventional triangle frame with a more or less horizontal top tube. Has anyone on here got one themselves or do you know when these were being made? I'm guessing at the early 1990's looking at the frame design and paintwork. The guy I got it from said he'd owned it from new and bought it at least 20 years ago but couldn't remember exactly when.
He said it "wasn't a cheap bike new" and had done thousands of miles on it, which I can believe as it's well used!
