Dawes Renown ?

[PpPete]

Any one know anything about this model?
All I know for sure is 531 F&F

Don't see very many - but prices on ebay considerably less than the better known Galaxy.

 

[DJ]

Don't know the renown, I like my Dawes and am considering getting another, the Vantage there budget tourer. Have a look at Dawes web site.

 

[PpPete]

I also own several Dawes models...but I've stuggled to find out anything about the "Renown".
I've e-mailed Dawes, as nothing on their website.

 

[PpPete]

Dawes response to my e-mail:

Thank you for your enquiry, unfortunately due to the many changes to Dawes in the last 7 years our achieved history and previous specification is limited to the last 10 years

Best Regards
Dawes Cycles

I think they may mean "archived" rather than "achieved".... either way, not much use.


​

 

[DJ]

Dawes response to my e-mail:

Thank you for your enquiry, unfortunately due to the many changes to Dawes in the last 7 years our achieved history and previous specification is limited to the last 10 years​

Best Regards
Dawes Cycles​

I think they may mean "archived" rather than "achieved".... either way, not much use.​

O Dear!!!!!! Maybe it's time to move on to another bike make!!

 

[Cambs]

I also own several Dawes models...but I've stuggled to find out anything about the "Renown".
I've e-mailed Dawes, as nothing on their website.

I bought a Renown in 1983 and kept until last year. It was a lovely dark blue colour, 531 main tubes and forks suntour gears, Weinman caliper brakes and rims.

The bike i really lusted after was the Imperial - 14-speed, gorgeous powder blue and just that bit "racier" but i just couldn't scrape the extra cash together. Have a look at them both here:

http://www.cyclemuseum.org.uk/ncl/dl.php?doc=pics/Dawes catalogue 1980s (1) (NCM).pdf


My model/colour came out the year after this catalogue was printed ( i remember poring over those very pages in my youth).

Don't have any photos of my bike (can't think why i never took one now) but it is still being ridden by a friend of mine and still has some of the original components!

 

[PpPete]

Thanks Cambs - and welcome to CycleChat.

I bought a Renown in the end. The derailleur hanger had a stripped thread so I turned into a fixed.

There's a pic of it here.

 

[Cambs]

Nice work - they're worth keeping going i think. There's a good degree of stiffness in the frame and the cornering is precise too, i found. I've since acquired a full carbon machine which irons out road vibration though it doesn't feel as direct and urgent as the Dawes.

I hope i can raise my fettling skills to your level; i have a couple of other steel bikes in need of some TLC, inherited from my brother. One of them, a Colnago i think, he used as a cross bike, but i need to work out what he was trying to do with the brakes as the ones lying next to the frame don't seem to fit (they are V-brakes, maybe he was swapping them in for some cantis and got stuck). Anyhow, i expect i'll be troubling this thread with pics, measurements and questions sometime soon.

 

[jimboalee]

Dawes guarantee their frames for 10 years, so only need to retain 10 years of records.

They moved from Wharfdale Rd, Tyseley, to Tameside Drive in Castle Bromwich. I suppose a lot of old paperwork went straight in the skip.

 

[PpPete]

Yes - very sad really.

Dawes make a big production of their "heritage" series, which are like "reproduction furniture" all dark veneer on chipboard and no real wood; but when you ask them about their real bikes that are 20 or 30 years old they go all "barcelona" on you and "know nothing" (Sorry for the Fawlty reference - showing my age again)

Ah well it gives some saddos (like me) something to moan about especially as in in my garage are the following:
2 Super Galaxy
5 Galaxys & 1 spare frame
1 Super Galaxy tandem
1 Dawes Spectra (the only Dawes that's not 531)
2 Dawes Renown
1 BSA
1 Apollo

 

[hubgearfreak]

Dawes guarantee their frames for 10 years, so only need to retain 10 years of records.

if you look in the brochure that's in cambs' response above, you'll see that they used to gaurantee their frames for life.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I always thought my Dawes was a Galaxy, but perhaps it isn't. All I know is that it's very old (early-mid 80s) and was set up as a racing bike and painted in Hammerite when I bought it eighteen years ago. I've got it set up as a tourer now - a job it performs admirably - but it could well be a different model. How can I tell the difference? And does it matter, given that it's still a 531 frame and forks?

 

[hubgearfreak]

it performs admirably - does it matter

you've answered your own question there old chap

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks Cambs - and welcome to CycleChat.

I bought a Renown in the end. The derailleur hanger had a stripped thread so I turned into a fixed.

There's a pic of it here.

That's a very elegant looking beastie pp. And 10kg is pretty keen by any standards.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

you've answered your own question there old chap

Good point.

I'm reminded of a thread I saw on a hi fi forum a month or so ago. Someone had started the thread saying something like:

"Hi, I've got a triple bypass Zanussi amplifier hooked up to two Trumble Diffuser speakers with Dinosaur Skin cables and a bathroom flannel woof filter. Is this setup any good?"

The first response was:

"You tell us. You're the one listening to it."