DAWES ZENTA MTB

[irrich]

Hi all.

i recently bought a dawes zenta mtb of e bay, £29 + £14 postage.
it has rigid forks and is made with AM10 steel. it's not in the least heavy and rides really well although i'll have to put new headset bearings in. apart from that it's in excellent condition.
I'm guessing it's maybe early 90's or late 80's maybe...i don't know and i can't find any info on it anywhere. ok it ain't a top of the range bike but it ain't cheap and nasty either and seems well built to be fair.
any dawes experts out there with any info on it?

i'll put some photos on, if i can work out how to do that.....

 

[1duck]

Use imageshack.com to host your images, then its a simple case of copying and pasting the forum image url that it will offer you...

Anyway i'm not an expert in anything so i'll just wait for the pretty pictures.

 

[irrich]

Hi 1duck

could be a long wait for the hopefully pretty piccies.
I'm a moderator on the Pikewatch forum and i cannot get photos to upload properly???
they always end up postage stamp size hidin in the corner dunno what i'm doin wrong there??
like you i ain't an eggspurt at anythin either, couldn't even find me ruddy post without the e mail link!!!!..
god it's embarrasin still i'll av a go an see what appens........mmmmmm

 

[irrich]

Well i took some pics....let's see what appens...

so i must av 5 posts before i can stick a piccy on eh??
:facepalm:

(number three)

 

[irrich]

number four............... :roll:

 

[irrich]

and five.........jeeze louise..... :shock:

 

[irrich]

let's see.....



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So if anyone knows owt about the thing i'd be pleased to know...other than that i think it looks well. rear mech is shimano acera, front doesn't say. chainset is a shimano, brakes etc aren't branded (does have c star on back of calipers if that's a brand) either but all work well and gear change is positive. bottom bracket sound as a pound and as i say just the headset bearings are a bit worn, simple enough fix there.

 

[mechagouki]

Hey there. What you have there is a fairly decent early-to-mid 1990s entry-level bike, It doesn't look to have seen too much hard use and the Shimano parts will last a long time if cared for. The c-star on the brakes stands for Chang-Star - one of the worlds largest manufacturers of OEM (what bike companies use to keep complete bike prices down) brakes for all kinds of bikes - nothing wrong with them, although you'll want to read some tutorials before adjusting them, cantilvevers can be a bit tricky.

All in all I'd say you got yourself a great deal for the money, certainly what you spent wouldn't even get you the worst of the supermarket Bike Shaped Objects, and the bike you have will actually ride quite nicely!

I like the paint too! reminiscent of another famous English brand's bikes from the same period, but I won't say which for fear of angering certain citrus fanatics out there

 

[irrich]

Hi, i'd kinda figured the bike was early 90's and an entry level model so you've confirmed that for me. i ain't guessin anymore.
like you i like the paint scheme which was part of the reason i wanted it.
as to the cheap supermarket bike shaped thingies, well i'd rather be riding this than one of those! even tho it's entry level and not fitted with high end components i reckon the build quality in those days far outstrips the cheaper stuff on offer today.
it does ride well and i will fit new bearings in the headset next week and everything will be right.
i is a happy chappie..

 

[Dawes-Man]

... the bike was early 90's ...

I think, it's a 1996+.
Comperes the "Dawes"-signatures:
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http ... 29,r:1,s:0

Greetings,
Daniel.