zjrog

I'm not real familiar with Techniums. Gauging if this is a bike to chase. Available locally, not sure if the asking price is good or not. But, I don't NEED another bike, this one is talking to me...


New enough for dusl pivot calipers, unless retro fit. No idea on gears or group. Guessing mid to late 90s.

Looking for info before calling and asking about it.

Unca_Sam

The first step of recovery is admitting that you have a problem...
You say you don't need it, but it's talking to you. That's ridiculous, because bikes don't talk. What's talking is your compulsion.

If you made it this far: the bikeis a later version with nice paint. You're not under any obligation to buy just by asking questions, so ask for pictures of the drive side.

USAZorro

I love Raleighs, but I have trust issues with decades-old glue.

cycleheimer

I have a Technium bike, and I really like it. The 3 main tubes on mine are aluminum bonded into steel. The head tube, stays and forks on mine are chrome molybdenum. Apparently some Boeing engineers were involved in figuring out the process. They were put together in the Seattle area in the late '80s and early '90s.

cycleheimer

Good point to use in bargaining down the price.

Smokinapankake

You must be somewhere in Utah...
Early 90’s, I have a 1990 Raleigh Technium catalog that came with my Peak MTB bike. Always liked the colors, and mine has not exploded yet despite regular commuter duty. This bike is in the same catalog but since I’m at work I can’t tell the model. Capri comes to mind but I don’t think that’s right. Seems like a high asking price, but if it fits it could be good value since big bikes don’t show up on that classified listing service* too much. Good luck!

*(trying to be somewhat discreet so as not to possibly jeopardize your find)

wrk101

Personally I avoid them other as donors for parts. I don't find them appealing. Glued together, no interesting detail work. No thanks! But I did pick up one that was full Dura Ace 7400. Why not?

zjrog

Of course I know they don't really talk... The color really stood out. I may just have to ask for more pics...

As a Clyde, I have to consider just that!

Honestly, far more worried as a Clyde of CARBON assplosions than aluminium. Hmmm, that 91 is a nice looking machine!!! I rarely read much into the FNF!

Ha! Yes, guilty. And yes. I prefer 58 and 60cm frames. And the usual tall frames are old Schwinns around here.Nothing against old Schwinns at all, I've had a few. Just not what I'm into presently...

Seems worth it to see what it has on it first. Beyond that, I've never owned a Raleigh, although it was a Raleigh MTB in a bike shop in 1989 that got me back into cycling after my teen affliction called CARS and GIRLS...

Thanks guys! I have left a message for more pics and info. Sadly, I let the Zullo frame I'd looked at a few weeks ago slip by...

zjrog

Gone. Too bad.


But how about that. Another one presented itself. At $250... Doesn't say what year, but is 60cm and is full 105... At this price, it is out of my desire to pay. The other one was 58cm and was $100...

Odd. Two so close together.

Unca_Sam

For every one you let go, that's more capital for a bike you won't hesitate to buy!

zjrog

There is that of course. Now if only a Fat Bike would come in at that $100...

verktyg 

Here's a better photo of one of those Raleigh USA Technium bikes from an eBay auction a few years ago.





From what I've read, the rear triangles were purchased from Tange in Japan. The unicrown fork looks like a Tange product too.

In the UK, the glued together technology was called "Dyna-Tech". These kinds of bikes were made with aluminum main tubes glued into steel sockets and also later with Steel tubing glued into cast aluminum sockets.

This marketoid BS goes on to say that the glued together frames have an advantage over brazed or welded frames. The real advantage was reduced fabrication costs!




Out of curiosity and for shear weirdness, I picked up one of the 1990 Raleigh USA Team Technium frames. They were made with straight gauge Reynolds 753 main tubes glued into cast aluminum lugs, a Tange 4130 rear triangle and Reynolds 753 forks which by that time may have been made with 531 blades.

These have had a reputation of coming unglued. I've had it since 2012... It's still only about 3/4 assembled.





verktyg

fishboy316

There is that of course. Now if only a Fat Bike would come in at that $100...[/QUOTE]

Good luck with that! LOL I have one going on the market @ $1500. Gotta love a fatty.

Kuromori

If you're basing that on the decal, it's not necessarily the case that the 90s decals said butted tubes, in fact most didn't. I'm not too familiar with Techniums nor is there a lot of catalog info out there, but my impression was that the steel tubed ones were made by SBDU, and similar to (if not rebadged) Dynatechs. The Dynatech 2080 decal which used heat treated Reynolds manganese molybdenum (753 by any other name?) butted main tubes and manganese molybdenum stays. I believe the USA aluminum tubed Techniums had Tange stays though, and went through a different supply chain.

OldsCOOL

I have an ‘89 Technium PRE. Bought it for 120.00US back in 2012. Still rides good, no separation of tubing at the lugs. Quite durable, actually. When I found it, the bike only needed a tune on the accushift system. I regard it as a very nice, good riding and a great value.

Smokinapankake

wondered if you saw this one. I was confused when I went back to look up the first one but saw the second one instead. I think that champagne colored 105 first appeared in 92?

Kuromori

delete

verktyg 

Nope, nope, and nope... and yes, yes???

See the attached file with all the straight scoop on the Raleigh USA Team Technium 753 bikes...

I said above that these 753 frames had Tange rear stays. I was wrong, they were built with True Temper rear stays. I think that some of the other frames built by Raleigh USA did use Tange parts.

The Raleigh USA Team Technium 753 bikes have oversize 0.6mm straight gauge 753 main tubes.

The earlier lugged frame Raleigh USA Team frames made with butted 753 were built by Raleigh SBDU in the UK. They were red with black forks and stays.



... not to be confused with the "Team USA" bikes made of "Raleigh 555" and "Raleigh 555SL" tubing which was Japanese made or something like that. They were painted red with dark navy blue forks and stays and had white stars on them.







verktyg

Kuromori

That's certainly a lot more information than can be gleamed from the few Raleigh catalogs out there. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with these, but it's surprising to me considering the dynatechs which were built in the UK around the same time. Especially the gauges, they aren't very thin, nor is the frame weight very light. The standard TT half-oversize 1 3/16 (half way between 1 1/8 and 1 1/4) DT is interesting too. Do you know what year the Team 753/steel techniums were introduced? I'm trying to figure out where it fits in relative to the dynatechs. Fignon was riding a 753 dynatech in 1989, which is sort of alluded to in the article, but the article makes it sound as if the steel techniums came first. These techniums certainly are an unusual one.

verktyg 

There is a great discussion going on in the “Reynolds 555 Tubing” thread concerning the steel tubing Raleigh USA used on their better quality bikes.

Good info and speculation on the Raleigh 555 family of tubing.

There are some big gaps in my bike experiences.

I was away from the cycling world for much of the 1980’s. Started riding non MTB off-road again in 1992 then got back into road bikes in 2006: N = Don’t Ask!

It appears that Raleigh USA introduced the Team Technium 753 bikes in 1990. They used 2 or 3 similar but slightly different decal themes on those bikes between 1990 and 1992.

Except for the 1990 frame that I picked up on a lark, I never paid much attention to ANY glued together frames. We sold EXXON Graftek frames in the 70’s and I was never impressed with them...

While researching my TT I came across some of the info that I posted above. From what I gather Raleigh USA started building frames with aluminum main tubes glued into steel “steel” lugs in the late 80’s - about the same time frame as the Dyna-tecs in the UK.

Then came the steel tube frames with aluminum “lugs” in several different price ranges. It looks like there was some overlap in the offerings.

verktyg

sdn40

I really like mine. The aluminum looks like its made from turquoise thread. Stunner in the sunlight

nomadmax 

We rode Technium MTBs on bike patrol years ago and had a number of them separate at the DT/HT junction as well as the DT/BB junction. A couple of the failures were catastrophic. We 86ed all of them and bought Specialized Stumpjumpers after that. Sorry for the crappy pics, I had to dig them out of a box.

This black and white one failed when the down tube broke behind the glue lug (first, then the top tube). The one with the teal fork broke in the same place.



The one below came unglued at the head tube, you can see the silver aluminum gap. If you didn't catch it fast you were going down face first, asap.



I had one put me on the deck pronto. I won't ride a glued together anything.

Unca_Sam

In all of the technium threads on this forum, this is the first photographic evidence I've seen of glue failure. It's only been 11 years, where were you?

zjrog

I'd heard of unbonding issues in 100+ temps. But never saw one. I've seen bonded bike break past the bonding, either the tube or lugs.

As a Clyde, might be best I stay away from bonded bikes..

john m flores 

An '88 Technium Tri-Lite PRE was my first bike. Bought it for around $450 with low-level Suntour components. Easton alu main triangle tubes (6006?) bonded to steel lugs. Steel stays. It rode so smoothly and fit me like a glove - still the best fitting bike I ever owned; all other bike are compared to the Raleigh's geometry.

I rode the piss out of that bike, a little racing, a little touring. Hit 70mph in Colorado somewhere and with the top tube squeeze by my knees, it was solid. The only annoying part of the bike was the cable routing through the top tube - the cable would bang against the tube and ping on bumps.

Ah, good times.