Building a racer out of a Dawes Mojave frame?
annoyingtwit
Posts: 127
This may be a silly question, but in another thread I'm asking about buying a classic racing bike just so that I have something with gears to do my first triathlon on and to go on triathlon club organised rides. My commuter bike is a single speed, the geared bike would be for occasional rides.
I suspect that there's nothing I can do with it, but I do have a dead Dawes Mojave sitting around doing nothing. It's the old model which has the derailleur attach directly to the frame. It is an alloy frame, but the remains of this bike feel very heavy, though that's with the wheels and marathon plus tyres attached. The frame also has 'trekking' geometry according to the online descriptions.
Would it be silly to attempt to turn this into a racer by buying second hand bits on ebay? I'd need drop bars including gear shifters and , a complete replacement gear train from levers to cassette, new wheels, lighter stems, etc. But would the weight/geometry of the frame mean that even if I did all this, I'd end up with a pile of dingo droppings?
I suspect that there's nothing I can do with it, but I do have a dead Dawes Mojave sitting around doing nothing. It's the old model which has the derailleur attach directly to the frame. It is an alloy frame, but the remains of this bike feel very heavy, though that's with the wheels and marathon plus tyres attached. The frame also has 'trekking' geometry according to the online descriptions.
Would it be silly to attempt to turn this into a racer by buying second hand bits on ebay? I'd need drop bars including gear shifters and , a complete replacement gear train from levers to cassette, new wheels, lighter stems, etc. But would the weight/geometry of the frame mean that even if I did all this, I'd end up with a pile of dingo droppings?
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Much as I really love to see an old bike given a new lease of life, I think that for your very specific needs, it would be foolish to invest so much in an old model. On Bike Radar's 'best under £500 bikes' last year was a Raleigh Airlite 100 at £375 and an even cheaper Carrera TdF...pick up something like that second-hand and you'll have a more modern geometry, a lighter bike and one that you can upgrade easily if you want to get more serious.0
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Thanks for the reply. OK then, what if I was to use the Dawes for practice at rebuilding the gears as aversion therapy for my fear of gear maintenance. (The single big reason I replaced the Dawes with a single-speed). I'd need a new rear dérailleur, cable, and I'm missing the black adjustment thing that fits onto the end of the cable where it fits into the integrated brake/gear shifter on the handlebars. The rear dérailleur only says 'Shimano tourney SIS index', and it's a 7 speed bike. I'm not sure what the adjustment thing is called, and hence can't google to see if I can buy them separately. What dérailleurs are likely to fit this bike, only the original, or do I have choice? If I'm looking for a second hand one on ebay to minimise expenditure, what should I look out for?
Looks to be about £6 second hand. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Tourn ... 1e7ae453d1 With cables, still less than £10 I'd guess. How much for the black cable adjustment thingie? For £10 or thereabouts outlay, it would probably be worth having a go for the practice. Particularly since I'm thinking that for triathlon I'm going to need a geared bike, which will cost £££££ if I have to get a shop to adjust the gears for me if they go out of adjustment.
The rear cassette has a LOT of wear, but I'd guess that it would still be usable as proof of concept that the gears are fixed.0
