dawes? yes or no?

[passiflora]

I have the pleasure of owning a 18" 653 Dawes edge.

The bike handles very well and is in my humble opinion underated.

The only thing I dont like is the back wheel is offset somehow?.

But all in all it's a lovely bike...and the bar ends are so comfortable, useable and 2 die for

Dont worry the bike was thoroughly cleaned and has not rusted to death since the sea experience

 

[hydorah]

Nice bike

Does your back wheel look like someone has rebuilt it?

I'd say the offset rear wheel is either a poorly built wheel or less likely bent frame

Inexperienced wheel builders sometimes fail to account for 'dishing' of the rear wheel

Nice bike

 

[Xesh]

Dawes Edge Xtra. Mmmmmm!

This one?

I seem to be thinking black with blue/white decals. Not sure if I'm right on the model. There was one year where they had several XTRa models and one was a hybrid of some type with a 653 frame and the above mentioned colour scheme. IIrc all the XTRa models that year had the same colours. I might be imagining things though.

 

[hamster]

Great frames - and they still make good frames, although more touring orientated and (sadly for UK manufacturing) in Czech Republic. For 20 years or so they made arguably the best touring bike around, the Galaxy.

They had a wealth of knowledge on frame building and made light, well constructed frames. Lack of scale on purchasing components made them less cost competitive.

I have two Dawes MTB tandems, which are wonderful.

I think the reference to Falcon was about their 1950-60's road bikes.

 

[Dawes-Man]

Great frames...

... They had a wealth of knowledge on frame building and made light, well constructed frames. Lack of scale on purchasing components made them less cost competitive.

Thumbs up.

 

[john]

Dawes did some OK stuff early 90s, as per the Edge XTR pictured. Never going to be cool like the US brands though.

Falcon never made a good mtb.

 

[carlton dyna-tech]

I had a Dawes Ranger MTB (my first ever MTB). It had 531 ATB frame and three-piece 531 Tandem forks. It had a long wheelbase so was very comfy, but heavy to ride. I loved it and (like most Retrobikers about their first bikes, I guess) wish I'd kept it. Sold it on when I got a made-to-measure Overbury's Pioneer back in '89.

 

[konarob8]

Dawes

I had a Dawes Kickback in Purple 1993/4.
Reynolds 500 tubing, odd mix of Shimano kit, Deore LX. STX RC and ALivio (I think). It is probably a bit too big for me as a true MTB, but spent many happy hours up on Dartmoor and the Isle of Wight. I had Halson Inversion Forks fitted to it when I got tired of arm ache from the bumps which helped, although not with the weight! It was my first "real" MTB after a Raleigh Mustang SIS, rode it for about 5 years, replaced most of it through the years, except the shifters, the front mech and the brakes I think. Replaced with a Kona Caldera in 1998 which is still my favourite and current ride. I tried a Trek after that, but didn't like this new fangled Aluminium stuff.

I've still got the frame in the garage at work, thinking of maybe turning into a light off road / town bike with a hub gear or something. What do you guys and girls think? Worth reusing or bin it and get something else for my project?

 

[WayneO]

I recall that the long issue whellbase thing was that for a while Reynolds couldn't do S-stays and so couldn't get round fat types without a v. long triangle. This had an effect on the handling not many people appreciated and put them on the back foot for geometry allowing 'sexy' US bikes to get traction.

 

[mrlee]

I remember the very early stuff was great but they fizzled from memory, I have managed to get a hold of two 1985 models a cougar in 531 and a nomad in 500, I got the nomad off ebay complete with suntour mountech, mt50 brakes the lot but its a gate and a nightmare on the trail but by a stroke of luck a local bike dealer had the cougar frame in his shed, it took about 4 weeks to get it off him, anyhow a complete chassis swap and its back on its feet, I took this along to the turkey twizzler this year and it got bike of the ride so there must still be some charm left in her yet.

Lee.