The Dawes Galaxy is a range of touring bicycles

Touring bicycle

A touring bicycle is a bicycle designed or modified to handle bicycle touring. To make the bikes sufficiently robust, comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads, special features may include a long wheelbase , frame materials that favor flexibility over rigidity , heavy duty wheels , and...

 manufactured by Dawes of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

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The Galaxy series is popular amongst touring cyclists because of features such as a long wheelbase

Wheelbase

In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.- Road :In automobiles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the center of the front wheel and the center of the rear wheel...

 and a slightly heavier but stiffer frame which allows luggage to be loaded on the bike. When introduced in 1971, the Galaxy was an off-the-peg touring bicycle at a time when tourers were usually expensive custom-built machines.

Unfortunately in spite of its popularity information about the history of the Dawes Galaxy is difficult to obtain, even from Dawes, and owners of the older Dawes bikes find it difficult even to find out exactly when an individual bike was built.

By 2009, the range included the Galaxy, Galaxy Plus, Super Galaxy, Ultra Galaxy, Ultra Galaxy Ti and the Galaxy Twin tandem bicycle. Frame materials include Reynolds

Reynolds Cycle Technology

Reynolds Cycle Technology is a manufacturer of tubing for bicycle frames and other bicycle components based in Birmingham, England established in 1898.-History:...

 steel, Aluminium alloyand Titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

. However, in 2011 the range was slimmed down and the Galaxy Plus and Titanium Ultra Galaxy Ti models dropped.