Advice on buying a new touring bike sought

[Andy]

I would be grateful for any advice on the following topics. I have been invited to join a cycle
touring group in Ireland in May. I don't think that my heavy, old mountain bike will be much use on
the trip. I am planning therefore to buy a touring bike. I was thinking of a Dawe's Galaxy but only
because friends have mentioned this make. I can spend up to £800 but have no wish to spend that if I
can get some adequate for less. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about the Galaxy or other
touring bikes in my price range. I would also welcome any advice on where to buy a bike. I live in
Brighton and I have been told that Evans bikes at Gatwick airport is very competitive. Are there any
other recommendations about how and where to buy. Any good cyber shops for example. Thank you for
any advice and assistance andy

 

[Wafflycathcsdir]

Dawes Galaxy are the choice of many

Before you part with hard earned cash, get hold of a few copies of Cycling Weekly, Cycling Plus
etc., and trawl through the ads - bargains can be had, plus you'll get an idea of the range of
suitable bikes available. A good web page for lots of links on cycling (including shops) is the
Cycle Northumbria links page at http://www.colinpercy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/links.htm All sorts of
good information can be gleaned using that page as a staring point.

Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Flush out that intestinal parasite and/or the waste product before sending a reply!

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

[David Damerell]

andy <[email protected]> wrote:
>I am planning therefore to buy a touring bike. I was thinking of a Dawe's Galaxy but only because
>friends have mentioned this make. I can spend up to £800 but have no wish to spend that if I can
>get some adequate for less.

The end-of-stock 2002 Dawes (no apostrophe) Galaxies are going for L599 - not a bad price at all.
I've seen them advertised in Cycling Plus & Cycletouring.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?

 

[Just Zis Guy]

andy wrote:
> I was thinking of a Dawe's Galaxy but only because friends have mentioned this make. I can spend
> up to £800 but have no wish to spend that if I can get some adequate for less.

How heavy is the tour? The Galaxy is a damn fine bike, you really can't go wrong with one, but if
it's relatively lightweight touring (B&B) you could get away with a lower spec bike - Edinburgh
Bicycle is a good source, as is Orbit. Don't forget the toolkit and luggage, either - decent
panniers are not cheap.

Me, I'd probably buy the Dawes and have done with it, but I am well known for spending too much
money on bikes, and already have a complete set of panniers.

I know this is not sufficient information at this stage, but I'm confident that as you get closer to
laying down the cash we can all help you spend it. There's nothing this newsgroup enjoys more than
spending other people's money for them :-D

<plug class="shameless" target="dark_side"> Of course what you *really* want is a Trice
XL...... </plug>

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#103 http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#104

 

[Clive George]

"David Damerell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:X2E*[email protected]...
> andy <[email protected]> wrote:
> >I am planning therefore to buy a touring bike. I was thinking of a
Dawe's
> >Galaxy but only because friends have mentioned this make. I can spend up
to
> >£800 but have no wish to spend that if I can get some adequate for less.
>
> The end-of-stock 2002 Dawes (no apostrophe) Galaxies are going for L599 - not a bad price at all.
> I've seen them advertised in Cycling Plus & Cycletouring.

There's more than one place doing them for about 500sq - even better!

cheers, clive

 

[GearóId Ó Laoi]

Dawes Galaxies are excellent BUT what's wrong with your MTB?

Can it take a carrier? Why not put slick road tyres on it. MTBs properly adjusted, with enough heel
clearance are fine tourers.

I've toured on touring bikes, mtbs, hybrids, and Moulton APBs.

 

[Simon Hay]

andy wrote:

<snip>

> I was thinking of a Dawe's Galaxy but only because friends have mentioned this make. I can spend
> up to £800 but have no wish to spend that if I can get some adequate for less. I was wondering if
> anyone had any ideas about the Galaxy or other touring bikes in my price range.

A friend of mine has a Super Galaxy, and as far as I can see it's an absolutely lovely bike. The
great advantage it has over the Galaxy is the STI shifters, which I personally think are much nicer
than the bar-ends, but doubtless there will be plenty of people who have exactly the opposite
opinion so you'd better look for yourself! As I can't afford to spend that sort of money on a bike,
I went for what I saw as the next best thing in the form of the Dawes Horizon, which is their
lower-end touring bike: still has STI shifters, albeit cheaper ones, and seems to be to be generally
an excellent bike - see the current thread about it...

Simon

 

[John]

On Wed, 05 Feb 2003 21:59:13 +0000, Simon Hay <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>A friend of mine has a Super Galaxy, and as far as I can see it's an absolutely lovely bike. The
>great advantage it has over the Galaxy is the STI shifters, which I personally think are much nicer
>than the bar-ends,

Probably true, but bar-end shifters are pretty bomb-proof and incorporate a non-indexed setting. I
understand that STIs can be a little delicate.

John

 

[Alex Graham]

> A friend of mine has a Super Galaxy, and as far as I can see it's an absolutely lovely bike. The
> great advantage it has over the Galaxy is the STI shifters, which I personally think are much
> nicer than the bar-ends.

Remember that bar end shifters usually have a friction setting so when your indexing goes wonky they
still work without the need for fiddling. Also that means you can whack any old mish-mash of gear
components together in a hurry and it will still work. I doubt STI is massively advantageous (I find
it a bit annoying sometimes, but that might be the shimano sora-ness) and big rear sprockets present
some difficulty.

Or so I understand.

-Alex

--
----------------------+ Alex Graham | [email protected] | ----------------------+

 

[Bryan]

<snip snip snip>

Must admit was looking round for ages for a new/second hand tourer, but my budget was way less.
There are some decent deals occaisionally on ebay,but Iended up with an Orbit Silver medal, and very
nice it is too. They still ahve some bargains (www.orbit-cycles.co.uk), but if you have a few spare
parts knocking round, you can pickup a caraway frame+forks for about £80 from gearshift.

As for the Dawes, as nearly everyone will tell you it's a great bike (never had one but friends
have), and for aroubd 500 quid, it's a pretty good deal

Bryan

 

[Sam Salt]

My Galaxy is fitted with Sora STI and a Megarange cassette.I find it a great improvement over the
bar-end shifters and never had a minutes problem ( shouldn't have said that! ).I find the Galaxy a
splendid machine but like a previous poster suggested,customise it a bit to your own liking.It will
last you years.

Sam Salt "Alex Graham" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> > A friend of mine has a Super Galaxy, and as far as I can see it's an absolutely lovely bike. The
> > great advantage it has over the Galaxy is the STI shifters, which I personally think are much
> > nicer than the bar-ends.
>
> Remember that bar end shifters usually have a friction setting so when your indexing goes wonky
> they still work without the need for fiddling. Also that means you can whack any old mish-mash of
> gear components together in a hurry and it will still work. I doubt STI is massively advantageous
> (I find it a bit annoying sometimes, but that might be the shimano sora-ness) and big rear
> sprockets present some difficulty.
>
> Or so I understand.
>
> -Alex
>
> --
> ----------------------+ Alex Graham | [email protected] | ----------------------+

 

[Just Zis Guy]

Sam Salt wrote:

> My Galaxy is fitted with Sora STI and a Megarange cassette.I find it a great improvement over the
> bar-end shifters and never had a minutes problem

I do know of a report of someone (someone I know, that is) who crapped out of Paris-Brest with an
STI failure, which would be a massive bummer. I am no longer entirely certain that this wasn't an
urban myth put about by crusty old-timers who think that bar-ends are a dangerous novelty and we
should all go back to downtubes, but I am fairly sure it's correct.

It's really a question of how much you're prepared to trust the components, I suppose, and how
inconvenient it would be if something did break. I find Shimano stuff very reliable and robust, but
I don't like to run the risk of failure during a ride (especially a commute in the dark) so I use
bar-ends. I also find that the bar-ends give extremely accurate and fast shifting, probably because
the speed the cable moves is faster.

I've had to spend hours fiddling with the 9-speed STI on the 'bent and the 7-speed thumb shifters on
the MTB, but the bar-ends on the tourer are as close to perfect as you can get and always have been.

I am considering changing the 'bent to bar-ends because of the faffing about.

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#103 http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#104