Dawes Red Feather Find.

[Illaveago]

I have been trying to get the bike ready to test ride today. I borrowed a chain and saddle from another bike . I fitted the new cables and brake blocks that I bought the other day. I had a bit of a problem with the gear cable clamp as the cable kept slipping .
Here is how the bike looked before and on my ride .
The bike goes well, it is also quite smooth over the rough roads. The only problem apart from the front brake cable slipping was an annoying creak from the left hand pedal. It quietened down after a while. I did about 10 to 11 miles.
It needs some tweaking but it was good for a first ride .
Oh! The table lamp has now gone !

 

[biggs682]

That's a good debut ride glad all went well

 

[Poacher]

I have been trying to get the bike ready to test ride today. I borrowed a chain and saddle from another bike . I fitted the new cables and brake blocks that I bought the other day. I had a bit of a problem with the gear cable clamp as the cable kept slipping .
Here is how the bike looked before and on my ride .
The bike goes well, it is also quite smooth over the rough roads. The only problem apart from the front brake cable slipping was an annoying creak from the left hand pedal. It quietened down after a while. I did about 10 to 11 miles.
It needs some tweaking but it was good for a first ride .
Oh! The table lamp has now gone ! View attachment 581993

View attachment 581995

Brilliant resurrection! Will you be calling it Lazarus?
That first shot makes me think you need some vertical measurements painted on your garage door, like the usual suspects.

 

[T4tomo]

Amazed you got that back rideable from its initial condition.

 

[Illaveago]

Thanks for the comments .
I may ease off a bit now that I have got it rideable. I will need to make some room in my garage for one thing .
It was a bit of a faff yesterday connecting up cables. The modern ferrules don't want to sit well in the cable guides. The ones which Dawes used had domed ends . I will have to see if I can salvage some from the old cables . Looking at the old cables It seems as the Red Feather was quite a sophisticated model at the time. The brake cable ends had gaiters to stop water ingress, these have become stiff and hard over time and so I won't be fitting them back on . I've also noticed that it had quite a few braze ons fitted for cables and gear lever mounting , later Dawes bikes seemed to follow Falcon's trend in reducing the number of them .
I will have to think about how to restore it , whether to strip it back to treat the rust before respraying it .

 

[AndyRM]

That's a seriously impressive effort. Chapeau.

 

[All uphill]

Thanks for the comments .
I may ease off a bit now that I have got it rideable. I will need to make some room in my garage for one thing .
It was a bit of a faff yesterday connecting up cables. The modern ferrules don't want to sit well in the cable guides. The ones which Dawes used had domed ends . I will have to see if I can salvage some from the old cables . Looking at the old cables It seems as the Red Feather was quite a sophisticated model at the time. The brake cable ends had gaiters to stop water ingress, these have become stiff and hard over time and so I won't be fitting them back on . I've also noticed that it had quite a few braze ons fitted for cables and gear lever mounting , later Dawes bikes seemed to follow Falcon's trend in reducing the number of them .
I will have to think about how to restore it , whether to strip it back to treat the rust before respraying it .

I love it the way it is!

You won't see another one like it.

Great work.

 

[simongt]

Go with it. There's a great deal of pleasure riding a bike that you've restored yourself. Looking at the brake levers, seemed as though the bike originally had drop bars.

 

[Illaveago]

Go with it. There's a great deal of pleasure riding a bike that you've restored yourself. Looking at the brake levers, seemed as though the bike originally had drop bars.

Yes the bike would originally have had drops and was made as a ten speed . There seems to have been a strange miss match of gear levers. The rear derailleur is the correct one being a Campag Gran Sport with front lever to match . The front mech was a Huret , it's broken and appears to have a Huret front lever .

 

[Illaveago]

I have now done 26 miles on the bike and it is going well. It seems to be a bit highly geared even on the smaller chain ring.
I am unable to use first gear due to the rear mech fouling the spokes . someone has at sometime in the past has fitted a different idler with a longer axle., this means that the cage sticks out too far . I will probably grind the axle to the correct size.
In the meantime I have been doing some cleaning of some parts and working out how to make a new nose piece for the saddle . I have cut out and shaped the piece roughly. I may need to make some cuts and also weld in a strengthening piece.

 

[Illaveago]

I thought I would compare the Red Feather with my Double Blue. They are both the same frame size 23.5 inch but they have different top tube lengths and are both from the 60's. The Double Blue was the top of the range model before the introduction of the Galaxy in the late 60's.
Both of my bikes were built as 10 speed versions so I thought I would try my Double Blue out for a comparison. I've had to rest my Red Feather as I'm having a problem with the front brake. Under hard braking the brake felt soft . I wasn't sure if the cable was slipping or stretching. Today I discovered that the stainless steel cable is pulling through the clamp despite the clamp being done up as tight as possible.
I took the Double Blue out on the same route as I have with the Red Feather and didn't notice much difference . The DB has steel rims whereas the Red Feather has alloys. So after 12 miles I am none the wiser. Both ride well, so I'll do some more testing .

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

How much of the apparent difference is due to the parallax effect of the camera? I can see the frames are not identical but when they are separated by the width of the handlebars it gives a misleading impression. What's the actual TT centre to centre difference and wheelbase difference?

I know that the TT of my Dawes Jaguar is about half an inch longer than my Raleigh Royal, both frames 73 parallel and 23 1/2" sized. The Dawes has less fork rake which more than offsets the longer TT. Chainstays also shorter on the Dawes. The Raleigh is noticeably more relaxed in handling.

 

[Illaveago]

How much of the apparent difference is due to the parallax effect of the camera? I can see the frames are not identical but when they are separated by the width of the handlebars it gives a misleading impression. What's the actual TT centre to centre difference and wheelbase difference?

I know that the TT of my Dawes Jaguar is about half an inch longer than my Raleigh Royal, both frames 73 parallel and 23 1/2" sized. The Dawes has less fork rake which more than offsets the longer TT. Chainstays also shorter on the Dawes. The Raleigh is noticeably more relaxed in handling.

I'll need to check them again but I think there is a difference of 0.5 inch in the top tube . I also think that the heights of the BB are different . As I say I will check them again .
Both frames are seam welded and are using different types of wheel but today I didn't notice any difference between them .

 

[biggs682]

Why worry about telling a difference just enjoy both

 

[Illaveago]

Why worry about telling a difference just enjoy both

I was just curious as to their differences. Why would one bike be more expensive than the other? Sometimes you don't realize things until you study them more closely .
The Red Feather I believe is a 62 model going by the head badge , Campag Gran Sport derailleur and Nicklin cranks . The Double Blue I think is about 64/65, a later style head badge , yet the derailleur seems a bit archaic in using Benelux, the front mech and levers are, the rear having been changed for Huret sometime in the past . The frame numbers also imply that the Red Feather is the older model .