Dawes

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For other uses, see Dawes (disambiguation).

A Giro 400 model racing bike by Dawes. Uses a Shimano chainset and carbon fibre front forks on a butted aluminium frame.

Dawes is a British bicycle manufacturer, originally known for its high-quality hand-built bicycles and now a significant brand in the UK and elsewhere. It is not related to Dawes USA. Dawes produces a full range of bikes, including road, mountain bikes and tandems, but is best known for touring bikes, specifically the Galaxy and the Super Galaxy.

Dawes was originally primarily a racing cycle manufacturer, and it was in this guise that the trademark Galaxy first appeared, but since 1971, when it was fitted with wide-ratio gears, the Galaxy has been the benchmark in the English touring bicycle market^[1]. Bikes were originally hand-built in Tyseley, near Birmingham, but frames are now manufactured in the Far East and assembled in the UK^[2].

Dawes was one of the first companies to produce a complete single speed mountain bike, the Edge One.

Some vintage Dawes cycles have a distinctive curved seat tube that parallels the rear wheel closely, in order to reduce the wheelbase.