Dawes Cycles is a British bicycle manufacturer known for its high-quality hand-built bicycles. 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 model lines.
Founded in Birmingham in 1926,[1][2] the company is now a significant brand in the UK. It is not related to Dawes USA. 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 and Reynolds 531 tubing, the Galaxy has been the benchmark in the English touring bicycle market[3]. Bikes were originally hand-built in Tyseley, near Birmingham, but frames are now manufactured in the Far East and assembled in the UK.[4]
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 length.
Since 2001, Dawes has been owned by Tandem Group plc[5][2], which also owns Falcon Cycles[6].