Dawley Bikes

Dawley Bikes Rider owned, operated, designed and made
Mountain bike frames from Kimberley, UK

Another T16 is born This year I’ve been making these ‘by request’. Unsure of which direction to take for the best, I let...
18/09/2026

Another T16 is born

This year I’ve been making these ‘by request’. Unsure of which direction to take for the best, I let my customers guide me and ended up quite busy building them (thanks guys!).

Up to now I’ve been making the T16s in a very similar way to a hardtail. I put the front triangle together, weld it out and then put it back in the fixture along with some smaller fixtures to build the rear end before welding it. I then assemble it with a real shock and rocker link to check alignment.

It’s worked great so far but in an effort to try and reduce my lead times this may be the last one I build this way.

I’ve been working on a stand-alone rear triangle fixture and my hope is that I can keep a few rear ends stocked up and ready to go.

When you place an order, I’ll build your front end to your size, coat it, assemble and ship.



Birthday present to myself that I’ve been chipping away at
14/09/2026

Birthday present to myself that I’ve been chipping away at



11/09/2026

This was before I looked like I’d been sick on myself. 200 laps is gonna hardcore.

30 today almost finished me off. And I need to complete 100 during daylight hours 😬

I’m doing this for , you can find the link in my profile if you’d like to donate and egg me on 🙏

My favourite partThere’s something about joining metals that I find extremely satisfying. It still makes me nervous. I l...
11/09/2026

My favourite part

There’s something about joining metals that I find extremely satisfying.

It still makes me nervous. I like to walk into a workshop that I cleaned down the night before with a cleanly tacked frame waiting. The same with welding as it was when brazing.

I’ll drink a coffee while I prep some fresh wire, grind some tungsten and try not to rush into it.

Once you strike the first arc that’s it, you’re in the zone now until it’s done. Pure focus. This is where we leave our mark.

Maybe I’m getting a bit too deep. Whadya mean you don’t look at frames and immediately know who welded/ brazed it!?

Actually if I pull my head out my ass for a moment…the real job here is to make these welds disappear.

It’s all done in time for Lauren Laverne and then its on to the next bit.

Weldy
08/09/2026

Weldy

07/09/2026

I headed out to get an idea of what I’m in for with the fundraiser ride I’m doing for

I’ll be riding over 100km and 200laps of in 48hrs. At least that’s the goal, think I’ve got a little bit of training to do before I go for it toward the end of October.

I messed up the audio this time so I’ll try this again but for now you can make a donation below. Link will be in stories etc also 🙏

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thoms-fundraising-page1781?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_transactional_—_donation_received_—_nth_donation

Having the suspension design centred around the middle of the bike serves many purposes. It allows the front triangle to...
04/09/2026

Having the suspension design centred around the middle of the bike serves many purposes.

It allows the front triangle to be altered meaning that I can make the frame in any size while maintaining the kinematic that I worked so hard to achieve.

It means I can use high end butted tubing in the front triangle, which provides the ride character that steel bikes are known for.

There’s space for a water bottle.

And it keeps weight central just like the T16s namesake.

I didn’t invent the layout, it’s not novel. But it’s tried and tested, beautifully uncomplicated and the finer details of the kinematic are all mine and tuned to perfection.

Geometrically these dropouts are no different to other versions that I’ve used except for one thing -they’re symmetrical...
02/09/2026

Geometrically these dropouts are no different to other versions that I’ve used except for one thing -

they’re symmetrical.

Years ago when UDH was introduced I made the decision to simply build all my frames with an asymmetrical rear triangle since the UDH pushes the drive side out.

With these I’ve changed that.

Although skinny, the wall thickness of the tubing at the dropout here is thick. They’re perfectly shaped to help dissipate vibrations and forces at the rear axle. The joint type should further help to spread forces evenly.

But that taper is tricky to model, if you’ve a keen eye you can see that the chainstay doesn’t flow quite perfectly into the dropout. But that’s why we test and prototype things.

v1.1 should correct that and also add the rear brake tab to the printed part.

The 3D printed part is 316L and fully shelled out - the cylindrical part is hollow.

The brake tabs are offset and have a spacer brazed to the inside face, hence the discolouration.

That felt good 😌This s**t knee can do one.
31/08/2026

That felt good 😌

This s**t knee can do one.

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