[CR]Galaxy Brakes

(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Simon Richardson" <quad@blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:23:16 +0000
Subject: [CR]Galaxy Brakes

Hi,

I have a very beaten up Dawes frame that I want to turn into a working bike. It was sold to me (for very little money) as a Dawes Galaxy and I was told that it is Reynolds 531 throughout. There's not much there, just the frame and a headset. The paint is mostly chipped, there's surface rust and there are no transfers left to identify it, but the metal is sound and the BB threads look perfect. It has Dawes embossed on the seat stays and a simple, oval, Dawes badge on the head tube.

It's a very long bike: seat tube is 22" CT and the top tube 24" CC and it has very long chain stays, about 20" CC. Another clue is that there are no bosses on the down tube for gear levers, instead there are a pair of cable guides, so perhaps it had stem levers - fashionable in the late 70s I think?

Anyway, the problem I have is with the brakes. There are cantilever bosses on the seat stays, the usual bridge for mudguards, and a bridge for a cable hanger above. If I put 700C wheels on it the distance from the centre of the bosses to the centre of the rim is 50mm - much longer than any cantilever I have seen, I think they are usually 35mm? The distance from the mudguard bridge to the centre of the rims is about 75mm - much longer than any caliper brake I have seen.

Either the bike once had very small wheels, or very large wheels, or some very unusual brakes? Has anyone out there seen cantilevers with a 50mm reach?

---------------------------------------
Simon Richardson
London