Vintage Dawes Galaxy

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Kevinski66

Senior Member
I would love to know whether or not my dawes galaxy is 531 ,ive heard thatthey were all 531 but im not to sure it seems very heavy also is there anywhere i can try and find out how old it is ? The chap i bought it off had it from when he was 16 and he is 55 now so it narrows it down a bit
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
Stick up pictures in the vintage forum and someone will narrow it down for you....
 

robgul

Legendary Member
Doing some sums on the chap's age then it's 39 years old = 1977 - in which case I would be certain that it's 531 tubing. I have a 1975 Galaxy, still in use for long tours, which I bought in original paintwork with 531 sticker - and I did have a 1980 Galaxy that had the 531 sticker. No reason to believe that the stickers weren't original from manufacture.

My Galaxy is "heavy" despite being 531 compared to more modern bikes - 531 is steel after all!

... don't bother asking Dawes about dates on frame numbers, all the records are long gone.

Rob
 

tyred

Squire
Location
Ireland
I don't know much about Galaxies but they wouldn't be using a lightweight butted tubeset for a touring bike. It would be need to be stiff and strong.
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
Pretty sure it came however the frame builder ordered it, that was the beauty, you could have it butted unbutted thicker thinner and in most conceivable diameters.

They would certainly eer towards stronger spec on a tourer because of the need to carry luggage without flexing too much
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Surely 531ST is double butted, just generally thicker than 531C.
I've seen some stuff on t'internet that says it's a 'Super Tourist' frameset, I always understood it to be 'Standard Tubing', 531 is used for more than bicycle frames.
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
My 87 Peugeot says its 531ST in the catalogue and on the sticker says genuine 531 butted tubes, so I think we can conclude that 531ST can indeed be butted.

I'm pretty sure ST is For super tourist, 531C was competition - I.e a bit thinner and lighter
 
There might be some information to be gained by aiming a micrometer at the seat pin. If it comes out at 27.2 then the chances are that it is the elite 531 double-butted. Any smaller than that then you are dealing with what we used to call "plain gauge" tubing. This is more likely given the Galaxy's tourer credentials. 531 plain gauge was still being used in the seventies, for sure.
 
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