Dawes Cycles is a

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

manufacturer based in

Castle Bromwich Castle Bromwich () is a large suburban village situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east; also Sutton Coldfield to the east and ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Dawes produces a range of bikes including road,

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

s and tandems, but is best known for touring bikes, specifically the

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

and the Super Galaxy model lines.

History

In 1906 Major Ernest Humphries and Charles F. Dawes set up the "Humphries and Dawes Company" in Birmingham, England. At first, they produced motorcycles and a few bicycles. But after twenty years, the two partners split up, with Major Humphries setting up a motorcycle manufacturer. Charles F. Dawes set up Dawes Cycles Ltd in Wharf Dale,

Tyseley Tyseley is a district in the southern half of the city of Birmingham, England, near the Coventry Road and the districts of Acocks Green, Small Heath and Yardley. It is located near the Grand Union Canal. Etymology Tyseley means "Tyssa's clearin ...

in 1926, with the company building to become a significant brand in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Charles left the business around 1930, leaving the running to his son Wilfred P. Dawes, a former

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...

, who died in 1993. He had passed control of the business over to his son Richard Dawes in the 1970s. Primarily marketing itself a racing cycle manufacturer, Dawes made its money and impact through a combination of noted

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

(it would even undertake repairs at the factory), and a broader range of bicycles calculated to meet real working, commuting and leisure needs. The company built good frames with fine paintwork (though usually without rococo lugs), and by making many of their own components (brakes, pedals, mudguards, etc.), ensured that all the components of the finished bicycle were of high quality. Some vintage Dawes cycles have a distinctive curved

seat tube A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles: a main triangle ...

that parallels the rear wheel closely, in order to reduce the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

length. Dawes presented the "Courier" for the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

, which incorporated a number of hints of the future direction for the company's bikes. Hand-built around a lightweight frame with a long wheelbase (comfortable for long-distance touring), it was equipped with a state-of-the-art ten-gear

derailleur Shimano 600 front derailleur (1980) A derailleur is a variable-ratio bicycle gearing system consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets of different sizes, and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another. Modern front and rear d ...

system, and was fitted with toecaps and saddlebag. This was followed into production with the more specialist "Windrush", a specific-designed touring bicycle and a direct fore-runner of the later "Galaxy". Dawes Kingpin Folding Bicycles

The company's response to the 1960s passion for "

unisex Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality. The term 'unisex' was coined as a neologism in the 1960s and was used fairly inf ...

" small wheeled "shopping" bicycles was the step-framed "Newpin", with single-speed and three-speed

Sturmey-Archer Sturmey-Archer was a manufacturing company originally from Nottingham, England. It primarily produced bicycle hub gears, brakes and a great many other sundry bicycle components, most prominently during their heyday as a subsidiary of the Raleig ...

enclosed hub gearing systems. These were offered in both a fixed frame and separable two piece frame. It was later renamed as the "Kingpin", Newpin initially being used for the fixed frame version, and offered in a folding frame version that went through a number of developments, and is still in production . In 1971, Dawes first "Galaxy" model appeared, fitted with wide-ratio gears and

Reynolds 531 Reynolds 531 (pronounced 'five-three-one') is a brand name, registered to Reynolds Technology of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, for a manganese–molybdenum, medium-carbon steel tubing that was used in many quality applications, including r ...

tubing. The Galaxy became the benchmark in the English touring bicycle market.Chris Juden, technical office,

Cyclists' Touring Club Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is cov ...

, Cycle magazine, 2001 Dawes giro 400 race bike

By the mid-1970s, the company was still family owned and producing 1000 bicycles a week. Between 1978 and 2001 the company was sold at least five times, passing through the hands of various venture capital and leisure companies. Resultantly, by the mid-1980s, the firm had 50 staff at its dilapidated Tysley factory. After being bought by ATAG of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1990, the factory was closed down and production moved to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, while the head office moved to

. In this guise it was bought by Midlands-based investment house Grove Industries in 1998 and sold to Tandem Group Plc in 2001.

Present

Since 2001, Dawes has been owned by

Tandem Group Tandem Group is a British-based designer, developer, distributor and retailer of sports, leisure and mobility products. Based in Castle Bromwich, West Midlands, the company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchang ...

plc, owners of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

-based

Falcon Cycles Falcon Cycles is a British bicycle manufacturer which was based in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, owned by Tandem Group. History In the 1880s, Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek Ltd was established in Coventry as a manufacturer of bicycles. In 1897, the c ...

. Although Dawes bikes are no longer manufactured in the United Kingdom, the research, design and development still comes from their head office staff based in Birmingham. Dawes was one of the first companies to produce a complete

single speed A single-speed bicycle is a type of bicycle with a single gear ratio. These bicycles are without derailleur gears, hub gearing or other methods for varying the gear ratio of the bicycle. There are many types of modern single speed bicycles; BMX ...

mountain bike, the Edge One, and continues to develop new models.

References

External links

Dawes Cycles
{{British bicycle manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Mountain bike manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926 Companies based in Solihull 1926 establishments in England

History

Present

See also

References

External links