THE MAKES AND MODELS OF BICYCLES GAME.

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Voodoo (Various models like the Voodoo Hoodoo etc).

Real Breeze.

Rudy Alteg (Various models).

Marlborough (Various models... Prone to frame and fork faliures).

Amoco (Various models).

Land Rover (Various models).

Ferarri (Various models).

Dawes Cougar.

Dawes Wildcat.

Dawes Double Edge.

I wanted that one! I'll try this instead
Dawes countryman

( to my mind they all look the same Ranger, Countryman and Wildcat.)

The Wildcat was sold just before I started working in the trade so they would have been made around 1986 to 1988 at the latest. My workmate had a black and red one. The earlier ones were yellow ad red. Nice bikes. One customers bike had had an accident with a car, and he took it to where they worked, and had a new toptube welded in. This new toptube was a single solid piece of steel. I didn't notice as its owner had a complete car CB with a 12V lead acid battery strapped to the bike so his bike was heavy to start with. But if it was stripped down, apart from the weight, the job was done so nicely with the ecact shade of paint etc, I would not have noticed.

I started helping out at the bike shop aroud the early part of 1990 after buying a Dawes Galaxy in 1989 (The best year to buy if one has a choice). I used to like the Dawes "One offs" where at the end of the line, they would make bikes and for some reason paint them a mid to dark shade of pink (Pink was fasionable for either sex in those days) and one would see a bie with high spec sold for a budget price. They never made many. They were just made to clear old disscontinued parts or frames etc. They were a bit if a mix and match. 1989 was the last year of the Dawes Kingpin. Was a shopping style bike. Then about 1991 to 1992... Long after the bike was disscontinued... Along came some "Dawes specials" using the old Dawes Kingpin frames and the 20" wheels and an interesting mix of components ad they were in this medium to dark shade of pink. The origional Kingpins were all grey...
Oh. Other interesting one offs. The entry level Dawes Ascents. They were yellow and white. Reynolds 500 cromolly frames. Nice bikes. 15 gears. Now they were yellow and white, then they were black and pink. All of them sold well, and I raced on two other models of bikes which shared the same frames and say they were great. The last of rhe Dawes Ascents were fully kitted out with Shimano Deore componentry at the ordinary list price! Dawes used to do this on rare occasions.
Dawes went downhillafter the takeover, when the made major changes and lost a lot of customers including losing many of their dealerships. The current Dawes range does not really inspire me. Last ears range I noticed how on their online catalogue.. Well. The phrazes used to describe their bikes. Well. Put it this way. The wording cried "These guys don't know much about bikes"... Using terms like "Alloy". Ummm. We were never allowed to use that term in bicycle sales as it confused customers and was unprofessional... As alloy is a very lose term.. Alloy of steel? Alloy of alluminium? If an alloy if steel what alloy is it etc, etc. We had to learn what materials were used to make the frames before we could sell them. We had to learn the difference between touring, sports touring, racing and time trialling bikes. The difference between a mountain bike and an all terrain bike. (Professional offroad bikes in those days were called "All terrain bikes" and the budget ones made to look the same but were not really suitable were called "Mountain bikes".
The first true hybrid bike I ever saw in the cataloges was the Peugeot Concept 18. I nearly boughtbone. It was £350 in the 1989 Peugeot catalogue, and they had a very cool matching helmet which had a half plastic glass eye protection thing built in... However, due to the plastic glass not being safe during an accident, the helmets were quickly withdrawn from sale. I never saw the bike or the helmets in real life. I believe the bike was Reynolds 500 but I'm not 100% certain. It was in black with yellow decals. It looked stunning. Had 15 gears. Very few 700c or 27" wheeled (Some bikes were still 27) bikes had a tripple chainset in those days.

Fun days!

I saw a pristine condition Wildcat frame for sale on eBay £50 plus postage. It was 22" Yellow and red, very nice to look at. I was interested because you can pop 700c wheels on them with long reach caliper brakes and have yourself a very nice touring bike. I've done this with My Ranger, which is the same geometry as the Wildcat.

Thorn XTC

Are you sure it is a 22" frame? Dawes did 19", 21" ad 23" frames for their mountain bikes until the magnum series bikes came in with the 1990 catalogue. There were four bikes in the magnum series. They were Fat Chance and Off Limits (Both with Reynolds 501 Magnum frames.. I still have my Fat Chance), and Raw Nerve and The Edge (With Reynolds 531 magnum frame tubes). They still did the normal Reynolds 500 frames for the lower range models. The four magnum frames bikes (Which I raced and they were ok, but I preferred the older frames) were made in 18", 20" and 22" frames. Mines a 20 and I should have bought an 18. The 20 was the recommended frame foe my size, but to be honest it is a little too big for competition use. Ok for the road.

Dawes Off Limits.

Dawes Horizon. (Up to 1989 this bike had sports touring geometry with Reynolds 500 tubing. The acceleration dut to a mix of relatively low gearing (In its day... 12 speed with 36-48T chainset if I recall correctly) and the sporty geometry meant this was one of the two bikes that frightened me when I rode it. I have ridden many racing bikes, but few bikes had the standstil to go acceleration that this bike did.
However, from 1990 onwards, Dawes spoiled the bike by changing the geometry into a touring bike but not giving it cantilever brakes or a triple chainset that touring bikes need.
Up to 1989, the Horizon was a splendid machine. From 1990 onwards, it became a poor mans tourer like todays basic Galaxy has been downgraded to be. Not to say it is no good... But nothing like the bikes they were. Dawes did make a brave step to attract back the old customers by coming out with eth Galaxy Classic a few years ago, but unfortunately they did mot make the model long enough... Mst buyers in my area of the country take two or three years to save for such a bike... So by the time they have the funds the model has been disscontinued.
I have to be honest here. The 1989 range of Dawes bikes made sense. One knew exactly where you were and which bike to buy according to your needs and budget. Todays range is confusing and awkward. I feel if Dawes concentrates on tradition and keeps making good quality touring bikes resisting the urge to fit disk brakes... They will do ok... But make sure the top of the range has 853 tubing! 631 is ok but to be honest, if I had the funds to buy the best touring bike (Which Dawes once built its entire reputation on) I would look elsewhere or buy an old secondhand full 531 framed Galaxy. The recent trend to give the lesser models the "Galaxy" name has downgraded the prestige value of buying a Galaxy.