Whats the diffrence between My £40.00 Ebay Dawes Hybrid and a Dawes Galaxy

[roundisland]

I'm having lots of fun on my Dawes Hybrid bike I purchased off Ebay a few months ago (its about 10yrs old) I paid £40.00 and am I am really delighted with it. It has Eighteen gears and I can average about 11mph on a 20 mile run without much effort, but the hills can be a bit of a killer.

I'm looking to take my cylcling a step furthur now and I want to do some extended touring in Europe this coming summer.

Can sombody explain to me if I was to spend £700 on a Dawes Galaxy what benfits I can expect to find for the extra money. I've never ridin an expenisve bike so cant imagne anything diffrent from what I'm experiencing now.

Hope this is not such a ridculous question!

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I've never ridden a Dawes Galaxy, so I can't be too specific. However a new modern tourer should be more comfortable due to frame material and construction, should roll more freely as a result of new bearings and better quality transmission components, wheels and tyres, and generally feel more "alive". You may be able to improve your average speeds from that of your hybrid.

However, there is no substitute for test riding so do precisely that. Also test ride other tourers as you may like another brand more due to details such as comfort or frame geometry.

 

[Arch]

I'm having lots of fun on my Dawes Hybrid bike I purchased off Ebay a few months ago (its about 10yrs old) I paid £40.00 and am I am really delighted with it. It has Eighteen gears and I can average about 11mph on a 20 mile run without much effort, but the hills can be a bit of a killer.

I'm looking to take my cylcling a step furthur now and I want to do some extended touring in Europe this coming summer.

Can sombody explain to me if I was to spend £700 on a Dawes Galaxy what benfits I can expect to find for the extra money. I've never ridin an expenisve bike so cant imagne anything diffrent from what I'm experiencing now.

Hope this is not such a ridculous question!

There's no such thing as a ridiculous question - if you really want to know the answer....

Anyway. As gerry said, the thing you'll get with ANY new bike is brand new components, all the bearings running freely, and hopefully all the bits and pieces working spot on (although there may well be a bedding in period after which things like cables need checking and adjusting). You could achieve a lot of that yourself just by giving the bike a danm good service - new cables maybe, and if they are replaceable, new bearings in the hubs etc. (Did you happen to see the Top Gear thing where they were trying to get a 10 year old family car to go faster, and the very best increase in power came when they locked James May in with it overnight to service it back to nearly new...)

Otherwise. Yes, there are proably some bits on a new Galaxy that are lighter. Again, you could do some weightsaving yourself, if it bothered you (I mean on the bike, not you losing weight!) Possibly you could fit a new drivechain to give you more gears (I have no idea about the space needed, so can't be sure). You could probably get the gear ratio lowered by swapping sprockets or chainrings, at any rate, to give you lower gears on those hills - do you use the top gears much?

I guess a hybrid won't have drop bars - but they aren't essential for touring, and you just have to try them to find out if you get on with them - I don't, so have taken them off my Galaxy (about 15 years old, and bought for £15!), and replaced them with normal flat ones.

If you can get a try on a brand new bike, do so - only you will really know how much difference it makes. But there's nothing to stop you going off on the hybrid, esp if you can make a few tweaks to make it spot on for your needs. And in many ways, a bike you know well is better than something you've only just bought and are geting used to - so if you were ever to splash out, give yourself time to get to know each other before setting off across Europe...

I haven't had a brand new bike since I bought a ladies town bike at Halfords about 15 years ago, before cycling was any more than just transport to me. But none of my bikes are as they came out of the shop, because they are all set up specifically to me likes and dislikes and so on...

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I have never ridden a Dawes Hybrid but I do have a Dawes Ultra Galaxy.

Last year I was doing all my riding on a Giant Rock SE Mountain bike that I have put Hybrid tyres, mudguards, carrier and different bars on. The problems I noticed were that u phill was a slog and downhill I would run out of gears.

Just after xmas I went looking for a new bike and found a secondhand Dawes Ultra Galaxy for £350 so I bought it. Things I have found are it is much easier to ride long distance, much easier to spin up hill and much faster downhill. Long distance is fine 81+ miles in a day and increasing every week no problem and I am now averaging much better speeds over all and quite regularly can be seen with a huge smile on my face as I zoom across the countryside.

The other day I went down to a friends house on the Giant and it was not an enjoyable experience I found myself thinking how the hell did I used to pedal this thing around all day so I doubt I will be using it very much from now on.

 

[PpPete]

A new spec Galaxy may be an improvement on the frame you have, but they seem to put very chunky wheels & tyres on these days....the definition of "tourer" seems to have shifted more towards a heavy duty/expedition capable bike over the years. If your planned touring is on anything other than tarmac then a Galaxy is a great choice, as the steel frames have a reputation for robustness. If all your riding is tarmac you may be better with an "audax" type machine rather than a "tourer".

OTH - if your frame is of reasonable quality the best "bang for the buck" is new wheels & tyres. I got about a 20% increase in speed when I put handbuilt wheels & narrrow tyres on my 20 year old Galaxy.

 

[roundisland]

Thanks for all the detailed replies its been of real use to me...maybe i could stick with what i have got but get it all upgraded, new bearings, gears etc.

I like the idea of keeping it more heavy duty incase i want to go off road, tracks etc.

I have attached a pic of the bike i know its hard to tell from a picture but would upgrading the bike be a sensible option?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38049647@N05/3501283539/

 

[Black Sheep]

Thanks for all the detailed replies its been of real use to me...maybe i could stick with what i have got but get it all upgraded, new bearings, gears etc.

I like the idea of keeping it more heavy duty incase i want to go off road, tracks etc.

I have attached a pic of the bike i know its hard to tell from a picture but would upgrading the bike be a sensible option?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38049647@N05/3501283539/

thats no hybrid, thats a rather retro mountain bike - and therefore is cool.

but then again, hybrids are like the early mountain bikes but with skinny wheels and slick tyres.


compared to that bike (which is very capable of what you want) a touring bike will be able to carry more (panniers on forks and at rear) drop bars will give you a variety of hand positions and possibly a higher gearing than on your current bike.

 

[garrilla]

You might want to consider the Dawes Audax, which is a little less tourer/explorer but for them money-ish

 

[allen-uk]

thats a rather retro mountain bike - and therefore is cool.

I know I'm quoting pushing tin out of context, but there lies your answer.

It is cool.

It is not cool.

What a load of balls.

So it all depends on whether you want to impress the big boys.

If you've got a bike that'll get you 20 miles you are (a) reasonably fit and ( have a reasonable bike. As for hills, well, don't blame the bike, yet, but DO have a look at the tyres ('tractor'-type tyres make life VERY hard work).

A.

 

[roundisland]

so I could look at getting tryes with not so many nobbley bits, what about getting more gears.

I would be happy to keep this bike but would really like to bring it upto date if possible.

Regarding the hills not really blaming the bike I can see a significant improvment over the last 2 months in my fitness and hill climbing ability...gear change is clunky and slow somtimes not selecting properly which doesnt help.

Maybe I should look at a complete overhall of the bike, gears, bearings and all? Any idea of the costs involved in that??

Thanks for all the comments really helpful to a novice like me that has just taken up cycling at 47.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Referring to my earlier post, I would still recommend that you test ride a new tourer or tourers. I think you may be very surprised. If not, then nothing lost. When I returned to cycling a few years ago, I spent a small fortune tittivating an bike I'd had for years, only to instantly relegate it to my foul weather/pub bike after riding a new one. Technology has moved on.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

+1 wot he said above

 

[Arch]

so I could look at getting tryes with not so many nobbley bits, what about getting more gears.

I would be happy to keep this bike but would really like to bring it upto date if possible.

Regarding the hills not really blaming the bike I can see a significant improvment over the last 2 months in my fitness and hill climbing ability...gear change is clunky and slow somtimes not selecting properly which doesnt help.

Maybe I should look at a complete overhall of the bike, gears, bearings and all? Any idea of the costs involved in that??

Thanks for all the comments really helpful to a novice like me that has just taken up cycling at 47.

Slicker tyres will help. Whether you can get more gears (or perhaps just the same number but a wider range) is beyond my knowledge, and down to the amount of space there is on bottom bracket and hubs and so on. A decent local bike shop could advise.

Certainly worth getting a service I think - again, ask at a local bike shop what their price would be. Just checking and adjusting and lubing/replacing cables might help with the clunky gear changes, also giving the whole chain set a darned good clean and lube. I suspect replacing bearings is something more than a basic service - I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend to show me how to do that myself (and to have the patience to replace ball bearings) - how much of a job it is might depend on what sort of bearings it has...

I certainly reckon it'll do the job for you. Still worth seeing if you can get a spin on a brand new tourer to see what you think, but if it the price meant you couldn't afford to do the trip, then don't let it stop you.

BTW, on the carrying capacity thing - depends if you plan to camp and hw long you want to be away for, but having less space to carry stuff really makes you travel lighter...

 

[Angelfishsolo]

That looks very similar to my Apollo Kaos. Even down to the colour. As has been said it is a retro (rigid) MTB not a Hybrid. Nice bike though :-)

This has had a new Bottom Bracket, front chain set, rear mech, new bars and wheels. Only the frame, forks, brake mech and levers, seat post and saddle are original.

Thanks for all the detailed replies its been of real use to me...maybe i could stick with what i have got but get it all upgraded, new bearings, gears etc.

I like the idea of keeping it more heavy duty incase i want to go off road, tracks etc.

I have attached a pic of the bike i know its hard to tell from a picture but would upgrading the bike be a sensible option?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38049647@N05/3501283539/

 

[roundisland]

Regarding the Hybrid thing I'm only saying its a hybrid becasue thats what it says on the frame, Dawes Hybrid.

Anglefishsolo, I would agree it looks very simular to our bike.

Gerry, I will certainly look to getting a ride on a more modern touring bike to see what the diffrence is.

Arch , I think I will get slicker tyers and a full service and see what differnece I'm notice after that

One thing that my bike is missing for touring is the connections on the front forks or painers there. Is there anyway around that?