1985 Dawes Countryman ATB

[8mph]

Picked this up earlier and I'm chuffed to bits with it.

 

[Cycleops]

Very nice. 531 tubing. Tubes, stays and forks. Was it oversize main tubing?
This was the British makers response to the US bikes that were getting popular. Early to mid eighties? Looks like it was introduced in 1985 https://dawescycles.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1985-dawes-cat.pdf
They hadn't quite got it right. Look at the very long wheelbase and fork rake. The top tube is so long the owner had to put the seat fully forward.
A piece of mountain bike history.

 

[8mph]

Yes, the frame and forks are 531 steel. I love the look of these ATB / Early mountain bikes, the long stays, the slack geometry, the huge cranksets.

 

[palinurus]

A friend of mine bought one of those to ride to her cleaning job. It was huge for her! but she liked it. I would fix it from time to time and obviously would take the opportunity to ride it, felt great- just fantastic for bombing along in a straight line. I've seen a few of those and they always seem to have exactly the same rack on them- perhaps it came supplied?

 

[palinurus]

Here it is (in 2005)

 

[dan_bo]

Have to admit I'm a bit jealous. My mate rocked up a few weeks ago with a 1991 Stumpy team (I had the same one years back) in vvgc.

I could use something like that as a bimble bike.

 

[goldcoastjon]

View attachment 615657

Picked this up earlier and I'm chuffed to bits with it.

What are the frame dimensions on your bike?
(I LOVE short frames with long TTs, which are extremely rare.)

 

[8mph]

A friend of mine bought one of those to ride to her cleaning job. It was huge for her! but she liked it. I would fix it from time to time and obviously would take the opportunity to ride it, felt great- just fantastic for bombing along in a straight line. I've seen a few of those and they always seem to have exactly the same rack on them- perhaps it came supplied?

Not sure about the rack but I don't plan to change anything about the bike other than the seat post and the bars, which appear to have been cut down. It's exceeded my expectations as far as comfort goes, it really has finesse.

 

[8mph]

Have to admit I'm a bit jealous. My mate rocked up a few weeks ago with a 1991 Stumpy team (I had the same one years back) in vvgc.

I could use something like that as a bimble bike.

It's taken a while to source one of these old Dawes bikes, I'll be using it to tour and ride the Devon lanes.

 

[8mph]

What are the frame dimensions on your bike?
(I LOVE short frames with long TTs, which are extremely rare.)

Its a 19.5" frame with a 23" top tube. The wheelbase, as you can see is crazy long but I think it will do quite well loaded up on tour.