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TECH NEWS
Just in: Dawes Clubman
The Dawes Clubman is a steel-framed touring bike designed intentionally to tug at the nostalgia strings but at a price - £850 - that won’t tug at your purse strings.
The Clubman’s frame is constructed from Reynolds 520 double butted steel tubing with the gently sloping top tube and plenty of eyelets for attaching mudguards and racks. A thoroughly retro bike should have a steel fork, but Dawes have specced a modern carbon fibre fork which will help save some weight.
Shimano’s excellent Claris groupset adorns the bike with a 12-25t cassette and an FSA Tempo triple chainset with 52/42/30t chainrings. The gearing suggests a bike designed for touring and commuting with enough low range for pedalling a bike laden with panniers, which the Clubman is capable of. Tektro brake callipers take care of stopping duties.
The Clubman spins on 32-hole Shimano hubs laced to Alex R540 double wall aluminium rims with a CNC-machined braking surface, and stainless steel spokes. Comfort is provided via 25mm Vittoria Zaffiro tyres. A closer look at the space between the frame and tyres would suggest larger tyres can be accommodated.
The aluminium stem and handlebars are size-specific, on this 54cm bike the bars are 40cm wide and the stem is 10cm. The bars are wrapped with a dark brown colour cork tape matching the Dawes leather look sports saddle.
Chromoplastic mudguards come ready fitted which is a nice touch, saving you having to embark on the often fiddly task of installing mudguards. The all-up weight on the road.cc scales is 11.24kg (24.78lb).
On first appearances the Dawes Clubman looks a super versatile road bike for anyone who wants a bike for regular commuting or riding through the winter with the benefits of a smooth steel frame and mudguards already fitted, but it’s got the necessary rack mounts if you want to embark on a multi-day touring ride next summer, or even an Audax or two.
It looks just the ticket for the current wintery weather with roads frequently covered in mud and rain, so we'll get it out on for a spin over the following weeks and let you know how it goes.
Find out more here http://dawescycles.com/product/clubman/
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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19 comments
I was lucky enough to get an end of line Dawes steel 520 frame with Sora for £399 from Winstanleys as an end of line item, original price £929. Done a few judiciously priced upgrades, it's now 9.4kg, can't have cost more than £600 in all, has taken me a few thousand miles and my 57 year old legs seem to keep up with most of the carbon boys on Sportives/popular Sunday rides so that's been a bargain!
Seems poor value compared with the Menthe - http://rouxbikes.co.uk/shop/menthe-black/
Sora, carbon fork (that doesn't shout out) and Reynolds…
But I agree with VeNT - disc brakes and steel - http://rouxbikes.co.uk/shop/etape-250/
I seem to remember the Road CC write up on this bike saying it was the best touring bike under a grand they had ridden..?
Now where's that pesky dog..
Back in the old days ( mid 1970s) I'd chopped bits off for a bike like this. How thing have changed!
Older versions of this came with Sora, but I think when sora when 9 speed they respecced it as Claris. RRP is probably a bit steep, but who's paid RRP for a Dawes bike recently?
They also used to sell a 631 version called the Century. Not sure if they still do, plus you could get the frame for the 631 version for around £499, but they've stopped selling frames for 2014. EDIT. Just checked the 631 version was just frame only, the century is still 520.
Fair enough, it's been so long since I bought a new bike all this inflation has caught me out.
Dawes RRP often sounds a little optimistic, but I have pretty much the same frame and fork on my winter bike (Dawes Clubman) and it is nice enough, although fairly hefty. The gusseted downtube and cowled dropouts are overkill to my mind.
I have steel frames with both steel and carbon forks and as far as I am concerned there is naff all difference between the two of them, except that the carbon fork is a little lighter. I quite like the power fork look.
For comparison purposes, a 631 frame costs around £600 for frame and forks, so the comments about expecting '531 at least' seem strange.
Tektro brakes work well if you change the pads to koolstops.
That front guard is a bit tommy tank. Other than that, I think I'd consider buying one. Love the colour.
I second Barabarus: 'I want to like Dawes. But this is underspecced/overpriced. Agree about the fork too.'
Should have Sora on it for that price...
I third this - at £850 it's a bit short when it comes to spec, but I've just Google'd and found that the Bike Shed in Devon are doing them at £669.00! Just bought mine! They'll ship nationwide too.
...just very badly.
520! that's no better than scaffolding, for that money I'd expect 531 at least.
Actually 520 is quite a bit stronger that scaffold tube - Scaffold tube has a minimum tensile strength (MTS) of about 340 MPa and Reynolds gives the 520 series tubes a MTS of above 700 MPa.
Would you? I had a quick look around for a new 531 framed tourer and the only ones I could find were one with 531, one with 631 and another with 725 costing 200-300 quid (631/725) to over a grand more (531). There was one model with 725 discounted to about the same price and a 525 framed model about 100 quid more. Most that I could find in the Dawes price range (and cheaper) seem to be 520 or "manufacturer's" CroMo or alu. One brand is using Columbus tubing. Even Raleigh's recent retro Clubman was 520, which I believe is now discontinued, but at least it had a Tiagra groupset (except brakes), frame matching CroMo fork and a Brooks saddle for about 150 quid more RRP of the Dawes one.
What a pathetic front fender! What on earth did they think it would help? My feet and legs from the knees and down are going to get soaked if I ride that on a wet road. Not to mention the drivetrain...
Just to repeat what probably around a million others will say: Lovely styling, then you stick a black fork on it and it looks half-arsed. I think if I went to buy one and they told me that was the original fork, I'd think they were pulling my plonker.
Frankly, on a bike like that, the bit of extra weight for nice slender steel forks (in a matching colour) would have been worth it IMO.
If it was British manufactured you could perhaps swallow a bit of the steep asking price, but as it is it seems a bit expensive.
Big clumsy shifter brake things don't work, but Campag would break the bank.
I quite like it when with the fork but would have liked to see disk brakes and a better gruppo for that price.
I want to like Dawes, they were an object of envy for my teenage self. But this is underspecced/overpriced. Agree about the fork too.
Fork spoils the look