I have this Dawes Horizon Tour, which I believe is the 1998 version, though I cannot find any Dawes catalogues after 1999 to be able to tell, and the 1998 catalogue says meteor blue, though in person, this bike looks a lot more green than blue.
I am interested in what you would do with this bike if it were yours. What you’d upgrade, what you might keep, if the frame is even that good.
There is a dent on the top tube of the frame, paint chipping, and a weird sort of oxidised looking discolouration – I am interested to know if anyone knows what that is.
I am putting a brooks b67 saddle on it, and will put some sort of cruiser style handlebars. I want it to be super comfy, and I also want to do some bike tour trips with it, so I’ll install some sort of front rack.
I like folks bikes when they look all well cared for, each part all shiny, but also when the bike has some character and it looks personalised.
Interested to hear peoples thoughts 🙂
by Sjs984
7 Comments
I’d ride it
Just ride it! There seems nothing wrong with this bike, even the tires look like good ones. Clean it, lube it, check the bearings for play and maybe get a new chain if the old one is worn. Other then that it looks like a great commuter or get-around-town bike.
Ride it until you can afford a new bike. Not worth putting a bunch of money into it.
Thumbshifters and saddle. Check if the fork is bent backwards.
I have one myself, in poorer nick than yours, but still operating decently as a low-key beater city hack. Major difference is drop bars and brifters. Coincidentally also have a trailer hitch.
Looks perfectly functional. I’d consider hitting the paint with some t-cut if you want to remove a bit of the discoloration. If you want it to get the metal bits shiny, grab some autosol metal polisher and start taking the older metal bits off like the headset, stem, v-brakes, seatpost etc and start going to town with a rag and polish. The more you polish the more chrome-like it’ll be.
Service and ‘daily’ use, I wouldn’t change any parts unless for ergonomics. Tis a fine bicycle nothing special but it’d never fail going to the shops and back. Fresh chain and clean greased bearings it’d ride like new.