Dawes Galaxy - frame specs?

[Arellcat]

Can someone who knows about this stuff say what the practical differences are in the various versions of the venerable Dawes Galaxy?  I am thinking about getting one as a replacement for my touringified Stumpjumper (who is the geographically distant sister of a bike called Fifi that lived in a SEEKRIT BUNKER).

Is there much real difference between the frames of a Galaxy, Super Galaxy and Galaxy Tour, for a given mid-1990s to mid-2000s year, when 531 was still in use, or was it mainly in the groupset and accessories?  The Tour I looked at the other day had a 531ST tubeset and pretty unremarkable mid-range equipment.  Did the Super Galaxy use the same frame as the basic model but improve on the spec?  The Super I also looked at didn't actually have any Reynolds stickers on it at all, but did equally have mid-range equipment on it.  I found some older Dawes catalogues online but they end at 1994.  Much as a biggest frame possible version of the last iteration of the Galaxy might suit, and discs would be kind of nice, I've not seen many at all for sale so am looking at older bikes.

I'm not planning to buy a new touring bike, because I'm not up for spending that much, nor even through my work's CtW scheme.  Otherwise I'd be looking at a Disc Trucker or a Spa Cycles build.

[yorkie]

When I purchased my Galaxy in 1989, the only difference between the frame & forks was that the Galaxy was blue and had "Galaxy" on the top tube and the Super Galaxy was green and had "Super Galaxy" on the top tube. Same tubing (Reynolds 531 Super Tourist) and geometry.
The main difference at that time was that the Galaxy was fitted with mid range 6-speed Shimano Deore kit and the Super Galaxy was fitted with top of the range 7-speed.

[Andrew Br]

I had a Super Galaxy 2006-2008 (approx). It was brown.
IIRC, it was 853 steel and the specification standout was the XT rear derailleur, everything else about the drivetrain was Tiagra or that level. I think it was 3x9 speed.
The wheels it came with only lasted for about 3,000 miles and the brakes were underwhelming.
In fact, the rim brakes sent me in the direction of custom titanium and disc brakes. I haven't looked back since.

A friend has an Ultra Galaxy; I can ask him about it if you like.

[Wobbly John]

I have a ‘97 Galaxy with a 531 ST frame, 63cm frame.
I bought it without wheels or groupset, so I can’t advise on what they would have been.

[Frank9755]

I had a Super Galaxy 2006-2008 (approx). It was brown.

Me too!  I think it was the 2008 model but I bought mine from Spa in 2009.

At that point the frames were made of different materials.  And the 853 frame was very stiff, I used it off-road a lot.  I also had a mid-80s Super Galaxy which was made of very whippy 531.  But it was a nicer colour - I never liked the brown!

I think in most years I don't think there was such a frame material difference though.  The frame varied from year to year so hard to generalise.  It was only the name which stayed the same.

[Paul H]

I've had Galaxy 531 and 853 frames.  The 853 was considerably stiffer due to oversized tubes and compact frame, I much preferred it.
There are those who feel the opposite, how flexible you like a frame depends on load, both rider and luggage, plus familiarity. I went from a aluminium hybrid to the 531 Galaxy, I'm no lightweight and ride a large frame, getting out of the saddle with a camping load was too interesting for my taste. 
I don't know about the 631 frame, if it's a sloping top tube and oversized tubing it's likely to be much closer to the 853, if lugged and standard tubing probably indistinguishable from 531.