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Dawes Galaxy

Realizing that I have no photo of my bike at all, anywhere, I decided to go all out and get a proper shot. I cleared a wall in my office/studio and dragged the subject upstairs. I hadn't yet broken-in my new convertible umbrella, so I set up to light with 2 strobes, L & R.

 

So here it is: a 1973 vintage Dawes Galaxy. I bought it new for $219 from Bloor Cycle in Toronto. It's a touring bike with 27" road tires on aluminum rims, center-pull brakes, Reynolds 531 double butted steel tubing and a real Brooks leather seat. A couple of summers ago I got it out of storage, completely tore it down, cleaned it and replaced hopelessly broken stuff. The rear derailleur was useless (broken idler gears) so I bought the closest thing I could find that would fit. Everything has changed on bikes since this was manufactured, so the chain widths are different. That means I can only reach 8 gears now instead of the original 10.

 

But it runs and the ride is wonderful. I love the shock-absorbant feel of steel. I've ridden modern fat-tubed aluminum bikes and they just feel heavy and lifeless to me.

 

K20D, DA* 16-50/2.8 @ 26mm, f/8.0, 125th, ISO 200.

AF540FGZ x 2, shoot-thru brolly left, silver brolly right.

PP with LR 3.5

 

(Sorry about the outlets on the wall. A backdrop is on my wish list.)

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Uploaded on October 24, 2011
Taken on October 23, 2011