Wanted: Reynolds 1 1/8" threaded forks for Dawes tourer

Some dufus made a right turn in front of my fiance a few weeks back and forced him to skid to a halt -- not quite making it, running into the guy's door and bending the forks at the crown of his Dawes tourer. Wheel is surprisingly ok.

Since then I've called around and can't get any new ones, apparently Dawes doesn't stock extra. It's proving harder than I thought to find a replacement anywhere. For whatever reason, that year's Galaxy had an oversized steerer. I'd like to stay with threaded so I don't have to mess with buying and pressing a new headset.

So what I need:
-- 1 1/8" threaded steerer ~170mm including threads
-- Reynolds 531 or similar with canti, rack etc. bosses
-- BRG would be a nice touch but any colour will do
-- new preferred, GC second-hand also fine

The driver at fault is paying (within reason) so name your price.

Cheers.

Try SJS cycles, they have lots of nice touring forks, and will probably have what you need. If you have already, then perhaps Spa cycles in Harrogate would be worth a try, a good touring shop.

Thanks Skully. Sadly SJS didn't have anything. Spa is going to call me back. The other option is sending the current forks away to Argos to get new ones made and painted, though that's going to be pretty £££ and take some time to get done. More £££ means more fighting with Mr. Smidsy to get him to cough up the cash. Brand new custom forks seem a bit overkill for an ordinary Dawes tourer anyway.

Anyone else have some forks or know where I can get some?

have you tried e-mailing dawes warranty? surely if you have a frame number etc they should have some forks in warranty there willing to sell?

Dawes apparently don't even bother keeping a record of frame numbers: bought what purports to be a NOS Galaxy frame a few months ago, and the seller (an apparently reputable bike shop, so I've no reason to doubt them) said they'd been unable to get any details whatsoever out of Dawes, not even year of manufacture.

So, as it was frame only, I'm possibly in the market for a set of forks too. Not too fussed about rack bosses, so had been contemplating a cyclocross fork, probably carbon just for the hell of it. Admittedly, not looking too hard ...

(To the OP)

I know you said you wanted threaded, but would the Surly Long Haul Trucker forks SJSC has be a reasonable alternative? £69.99, so even getting Mr Smidsy to pay for a new headset and fitting on top isn't going to be stupid money.

jsabine, my SO in his internet dealings got a hold of a set of Dawes forks from a guy whose frame was otherwise wrecked, but they turned out to be a 1" threaded steerer (190mm including threads) so we can't use them. They're yours if you want them, PM me if you do. Fwiw, Dawes used 1" steerers until 2004 when they switched to 1 1/8" on those tourers. Then in 2006 (?) they switched to threadless headsets. So the fork we're looking for appears to be somewhat rare.

Anyway, I was trying to avoid going the threadless headset route as that means taking the bike in to get it pressed, etc. But that might be how we need to go.

Pretty ridiculous that Dawes doesn't stock spare parts or even keep track of serial numbers. It's not like they sell cheapo bikes either...

THanks for the offer of the forks, smaryka, but the frame I've got is 1 1/8 threadless (needs an integrated headset I think) - the fact you think this is 06 on tallies with what I was told when I got it.

Agreed on the criticisms of Dawes ...

Thought the fork sounded mighty odd! That'll be why: Dawes used them for only a few years.

My next stop would be a friendly request on the CTC forum, either for any info on how to get round the problem or whether anyone has the forks you need, to sell/give you.

This sounding really annoying! Get Mr Smidsy's insurer to just buy a new F&F (or agree a split for the price), since you can't obtain replacement forks as they are rare ... Long Haul Truckers are nice and a comparable frameset.