# Raleigh Technium?



## steel515 (Sep 6, 2004)

Has anyone owned these frames from 1990s'?


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

They're actually much older than that, 80's. I had a team frame that was Reynolds 753, repainted white with Technium decals. The white color was the only thing that frame had in common with the real thing. It was a 1984 model year. By all this, I mean that the frame was a custom shop full 753 frame with Campy dropouts and just painted to look like the Techniums.

Technium's were a cheap aluminum frame that aren't much to write home about IMO.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

steel515 said:


> Has anyone owned these frames from 1990s'?


I bought the 753 version with Dura Ace 8 in 1991. It broke in 1992 at the seat cluster. The 1992 frame broke six months later where the seat tube meets the bottom bracket. The second 1992 frame broke in mid 1994 at the downtube/bb junction. The 1994 replacement lasted until 1998 when it broke at the bottom bracket. It was replaced by a aero tubed (kinesis) frame that I eventually sold on consignment in 2004. When they weren't breaking, they rode really nice.


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

Here's some information from the Classic Rendezvous mailing list, various posts:

Further info on Technium frames. I have owned a Technium Team Raleigh 
since new in 1991 without a problem. Mine has Reynolds 753 steel main 
tubes, standard sized with a 25mm TT, a 753 fork made by Harry Halvorson 
Racing, and a chromoly rear triangle. The lugs are cast aluminum including 
the all-in-one head lug, seat lug, and bottom bracket. The tubes are 
pressfit, and spaceage adhesively bonded, over the ends of the lugs, thus 
the lugs are both internal and external. There are rings circling the 
tube/lug joints. 

The tubes are 0.6mm unbutted since no heat was involved in joining, and 
butting was not necessary. The combination of aluminum lugs and steel 
tubes yields a smooth ride, and was praised by Bicycling Mag when they 
reviewed Ultegra equipped bike similar to mine. Mine is equipped with the 
first DuraAce STI group, and at $2000, was the lowest priced DuraAce STI 
bike sold at that time. I believe Raleigh abandoned the Technium program 
because of the expense in manufacturing them, compared to TIG welding 
frames in Taiwan, etc. 

I have no complaints, it still looks good with it's pearl white paint job 
and rides well.

____________________________________________________________

No. Toward the end of the line for Technium, Raleigh had models that 
bonded Reynolds steel alloy tubes to their bulge formed alumimum 
lugs. They had 531 and 753 models for sure. Rear triangles were not 
Technium and were TIG'ed cro-mo steel.

Doug

_______________________________________________________________

I've been riding my early 80's Raleigh Technium bike a lot lately and
have been enjoying it quite a bit. The main tubes of the frame are
aluminum and the stays and fork are chromoly. I set the bike up as a
commuter/cyclotouring bike. It has a rear rack, front handlebar bag,
fenders, and a mix of mid-range Shimano, Sugino, and Suntour parts on
it.


____________________________________________________________________

Info from a for sale bike:

1988 Raleigh Technium Pro 53cm Frame and Fork. See photos above link.
Pre-ebay offering.

Features – Alcoa 6061 main tubes, chromoly stays, chromoly unicrown fork,
all English threading, 1’ steerer tube, 126mm spacing for 6 or 7 speed,
downtube shifter bosses. Tubes bonded to steel head tube, bottom bracket
and seat cluster. Everything straight and solid.

Condition – Very good condition with no dents. 14 years in an attic.
Perfectly straight. No rust. Paint still has clear coat. A couple of
chips here and there. Blue ribbon decals are split from age, but still look
good.

Frame Geometry – Size 53cm center to top, Seat tube and head tube angles
73.5, Top tube Length 570mm, Chain Stay Length 410mm, Fork Rake 43, Bottom
Bracket Drop 63mm, wheelbase 1010mm, seat post 26.8mm.

______________________________________________________________________

Dave, as the technition(sic) responsible for the Raleigh Technium =
bicycles I should be able to help. As far as I know Raleigh Technium =
frames were a bonded 3 tube affair with a brazed rear triangle(including =
the seat stays) In the process, the seat stays were brazed to the seat =
lug(steel) the chain stays were brazed to the BB and then head tube seat =
lug and BB assy were pressed into pre glued tubes. The last process was =
brazing the seat stay drop out joint. Many of these were brazed without =
any added flux(not my idea). Some of these frames were alu, some were =
steel(753) Some of the bikes that came out of the Raleigh factory were =
prototypes that I made and were never intended to be ridden but got out =
anyway. When I left((AT)1988 there were still some bonded bikes being made =
with rear triangles from Taiwan. At any rate you should be able to =
replace the DO as you would any other steel frame. I would be interested =
in finding out when your particular frame was made.



Dennis Bushnell



_____________________________________________________________________

Dave Linden.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

Just to clarify my previous post. I had a Raleigh Peak technium MTB with Deore XT in the late 80's. Never had a problem with that frame. The problems seemed to be with the 531 and 753 main tube/aluminum lugged frames. It was a nice looking bike, I would have preferred the red 531 technium, but it came with ultegra. I wanted Dura Ace so I opted for the 753 version. It came with good components, Open 4CD rims, groupo hubs, turbo saddle, and nice SR anodized seatpost, stem, and bars. I remember the vittoria tires, their first foray into the open tubular design. They sucked. About 500 miles and the sidewalls were shredded. I think they were called Flash M or something. It was all quite the upgrade from my Mercian KOM 531 with NR stuff. I still have the dura ace stuff, I commuted on it up until two years ago. I upgraded to STI in 1993.


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