Well, I've been a one speeder for some time now, but only on 26" wheel bikes.  It's time for me to make a change to some bigger wheels. I'm not talking about those stupid 29ers that Mary Fisher (or was that gary) seems to be so proud of.  Nope I 'm getting a road bike!  Just got a line on my ideal racer. early 1970s Dawes Galaxy 531 reynolds.  It's a complete 10 spd bike with some cool vintage stuff hung on it; but I'll take care of that.   It will be the perfect fixed ride for me.  Just what I was searching for; basic, cro-mo, vintage.  pics to come! 

Post some photos after the conversion. I also just bought a 70's cro-mo bike and am going to use it for a lot of my fixie street riding. A lot of parts will be swapped out once it arrives but here's the bike as setup by the previous owner. Check out the coaster-brake arm guide!

neat bike, but will you be able to put a regular three piece crank in tha frame?  It looks like it has a one piece crank in a euro bb shell.  Or is that a USA bb?  I stare at them all day long but in a picture it's hard to tell.

Yeah that's an old-school American BB shell like on the old beach cruisers. I'll have to get some adapter cups in order to run three piece cranks.

I got the Dawes together last night. went to clean and grease the headset.  unscrewed it and all the tiny tiny bearings fell to the floor.  bloody hell f**cking English kife!  I've worked on theese stupid headsets before but for some reason it didn't dawn on me that this particular (English) bike would have one.  Why in hell would they use cageless loose ball bearings? 

Anyway, it's not too big a deal, I just have to get some replacement bearings for the ones that rolled away.  serves me right for being thorough. 

Dawes usually fit caged bearings. I've worked on a metric shedload of Ultra/Super/Galaxies...

 

What's 'kife' by the way? just checking, context probably defines it...

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She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.
– Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.

Kife:  you guessed it.  very poular term in small circles.  I woudn't want to be too expicit.

Actually I love the old English stuff that I come across.  Keeping in mind this bike is from 1971 or so.  I've run into other same era bikes with that head set, and they were all from england. 

thing is, using a cage is cheaper because it uses fewer balls, so arguably having loose balls is a sign of quality. (this line never works on women )

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She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.
– Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.

Loose balls are fine, when you are prepared to deal with them.  But I've never seen such small balls on a north american bike.  must be the way of the British.

it's certainly a PITA when you take off a fork and all the little rusty bits of gravel that's all that's left of the headset fall out.

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She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.
– Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.

here it is.   So far so good.  got the headset sorted out and now; super smooth.  Never doubted it! lol.

classic. classy.

Love the head badge.  

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She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.
– Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.

Hi,

 I like what you've done the Galaxy.  I've also got an old Dawes Galaxy frame that I would like to convert to a singlespeed. (I'm a complete singlespeed newbie)

Would it be possible to tell me more about your set-up?

 

Cheers

 

Mike
 

First:  Take all the excess CRAP off yer bike.   

If you want to use what you can, it will take some doing.  with the origional wheel, remove the freewheel and reorganize the axle spacers so as to get the chainline right with a single rear cog.  than redish the wheel to re-center it with the new axle spacing.  I had to grind the excess spoke tips sticking through the niupples into the inner tube ((the non drive side spokes were a tad long, you could also replace them with shorter spokes if you don't like using a drumel tool).  Once the rear wheel is set up, the rest is a breeze.  take of one of the chainrings.  My Dawes came with a Strong Light crankset, and the original chainring bolts were short enough to be used as a SS.  The BB was a good size as well.  Every thing really lined up perfectly for me. 

I'd be happier with a newer hub and tougher rim, but I'm pretty impressed with the origional wheelset so far.  To do so would require you to spread the rear triangle a bit to accomodate the wider hub spacing.  I will eventually do this to mine. 

More to come, Gotta fly.

I bought a Dawes Galaxy new in 1972 or 73 and would like to sell it. It has always been kept in a garage when not riding. I've ridden it off and on for years but it is time to say goodbye. Are you interested in owning another of these classic vintage bikes?

...somewhat interested.... if the wife doesn't find out...

 

Where in the world are you? 

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She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.
– Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The follower of singlespeeding
is at one with his bike.

Hey...there's nothing wrong with loose balls. Old/quality bikes always have loose balls. Bearing cages are a relatively modern invention for the sake of economy.

 I look forward to seeing that Dawes when it's done.

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"Gears are like eyes or testicles. Having more than one is an unnecessary luxury." Elvis A. Presley