# '88 Raleigh Technium - 56k take a nap



## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

This is my good friend's bike. He bought it new back in '88 and he rode it around town for about a year or two. He stored it in his garage but his wife moved it out into his back yard when she cleaned up the garage. It sat out there, exposed to the elements, for about 12 years or so.

Recently, I asked him about getting his old bike back up and running since he is opening a restaurant within a mile of his home, which is a bit too far for him to walk and a bit too short for him to realistically drive his car to. His wife probably had something to do with his decision to fix this old bike up as she's always getting on his case about getting some exercise. He's not exactly overweight but he also hasn't done any exercise in the last 10 years or so.

Other than the Blackburn Mountain Rack and the Avocet Gel-Flex saddle, the bike is completely stock. The plan is for me to go over the bike, giving it a low-budget overhaul and cleaning. As you can see from the pictures there is some rust on a lot of the parts but most of it is surface rust. The frame appears to be sound. Since he's going to ride this bike on the road I'm going to install some mountain bike slicks that I happen to have a set of and I'm going to throw in an old saddle that I have. I'm also planning on changing the chain, cables, housing, and replacing all of the ballbearings.

I'll post pictures of the progress of this bike.

One sticking point that he has with this bike: he has seen Rapid Fire shifters and he wants them but I told him that upgrading would be expensive enough that he should just replace the entire bike. This may happen down the road (and I'm hoping that he will sell this bike to me if that happens) but his budget is stretched pretty thin right now getting the restaurant ready for its grand opening in the beginning of February.

Edited to change the date as the bike registration shows 1991 and we thought he registered it right after buying it but Googling the Suntour XCD6000 components shows that these parts are from '88 and from FirstFlightBikes it appears that this was from '88 as well.


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## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

Five pictures at a time, I guess.

Almost forgot to mention this: this bike has never seen dirt. He may have ridden it on beach sand but I doubt it.


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## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

A few more pictures.

I wonder how many of the last picture I ended bringing into my house in this bike? I guess it's better than the family of rats that a different friend inadvertently brought into his house with that '67 Mustang he had towed home one day...


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## CS2 (Jul 24, 2007)

I bought a white Chill about a year ago strictly for the group. I looked like the bike was never used. When I got it, the frame was so nice when I unpacked the bike, I couldn't bear to strip it for parts. So now it sits in the garage with my other projects.


Tim


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## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

To give you folks an idea how little usage this bike got, the brake pads look virtually brand new. I don't think this bike had been ridden for more than 100 miles!


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## Frozenspokes (May 26, 2004)

How goes the build? I just found one of these sitting in a trash pile in my neighborhood. The one I have is slightly newer. It has Shimano LX cranks and Exage shifters, brakes, and rr der. The front der is LX also. This one is an Instinct and is red and black. Looks like it has seen very little riding by the condition of the parts. Just too many years sitting in somenoes garage getting neglect.


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## Caffeine Powered (Mar 31, 2005)

PCC said:


> A few more pictures.
> 
> I wonder how many of the last picture I ended bringing into my house in this bike? I guess it's better than the family of rats that a different friend inadvertently brought into his house with that '67 Mustang he had towed home one day...


You can keep it... I'm afraid of spiders bigger than a dime.


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## mechagouki (Nov 30, 2007)

Used to have one of those, first aluminum bike I ever rode. Forgotten all about it till I saw your pics.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

More Raleigh info @ http://mombat.org/Raleigh.htm


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## CS2 (Jul 24, 2007)

First Flight said:


> More Raleigh info @ http://mombat.org/Raleigh.htm


Thanks again for the great info. I have a Chill at home and according to your info it's a 1989

Tim


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## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

Thanks for the link. From reading the info it looks like the bike is an '89 Killer Instinct, which makes sense as I bought my Stumpjumper Comp in '89 and my buddy would have followed suit with a mountain bike of his own in the same year.

I finished the bike after about a month of stripping it down, cleaning and lubing it up then reassembling it. I took pictures but since this thread appeared to have died I didn't follow up with posting them. I don't know if he has ridden the bike but I'm sure his wife would have something to say about it if he doesn't. I'll check with him this coming weekend and see how things are going.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Reflectors, bike racks, and kick stands. :thumbsup: 

Does look cleaner than it started though...


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## PCC (Sep 5, 2005)

Believe me, I had every intention of removing those items but it's not my bike and I don't want him to have an accident then his wife coming back to me saying that he was run over because I took the reflectors off. I checked that he was going to mount both a head and tail light on this bike for more visibility. The rack is needed because he may have occasion where he may have to bring some light weight items to work and he can just throw them on the rack and bungee them on. If he needs to carry more than that then he can drive.

I resisted the urge to strip the paint off of the cranks and polish them on the buffing wheel...


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## Frozenspokes (May 26, 2004)

That's a pretty amazing transformation. The one that I found will not look that good when I'm done with it. The clear coat is coming off in too many places.


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## orangejust (Jun 16, 2006)

I have a Technium Chill (which came with Shimano LX500 kit) which is silver and blue (with splatter on it) and an Instinct which is black and red and came with Suntour XCD.


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## sonatageek (Oct 31, 2007)

That bike looks great. If it were mine, and being used as a commuter and all around rider, I would add a set of fenders.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

sonatageek said:


> That bike looks great. If it were mine, and being used as a commuter and all around rider, I would add a set of fenders.


If it were mine I'd bury it in the back yard and not tell a soul.


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## salsa-luma (Jun 8, 2007)

Rumpfy said:


> If it were mine I'd bury it in the back yard and not tell a soul.


LOL!!!


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## sonatageek (Oct 31, 2007)

Rumpfy said:


> If it were mine I'd bury it in the back yard and not tell a soul.


Wow, I wish I knew someone around here that would want to 'bury' a bike as nice as that. I could flip something like that on Craigslist for $100-150.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

sonatageek said:


> Wow, I wish I knew someone around here that would want to 'bury' a bike as nice as that. I could flip something like that on Craigslist for $100-150.


No doubt a gem. Big money to be had in Techniums.


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## abettercycle (Dec 18, 2009)

Frozenspokes said:


> How goes the build? I just found one of these sitting in a trash pile in my neighborhood. The one I have is slightly newer. It has Shimano LX cranks and Exage shifters, brakes, and rr der. The front der is LX also. This one is an Instinct and is red and black. Looks like it has seen very little riding by the condition of the parts. Just too many years sitting in somenoes garage getting neglect.


 be careful, i just ran across some recall info on red and black raleigh techniums.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml96/96045.html


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## kool maudit (Nov 27, 2007)

sonatageek said:


> Wow, I wish I knew someone around here that would want to 'bury' a bike as nice as that. I could flip something like that on Craigslist for $100-150.


couple quick turnarounds like that and you're on e-z street my friend!


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## Frozenspokes (May 26, 2004)

Mine did end up Peter out and on Ebay. I got around $75.00 for the parts I sold and the frame. I still have the wheeset, and the crankset/bottom bracket are in use on a SS roadie. Not a bad turnaround for a bike from the trashpile.


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## ton de rijcke (Apr 11, 2010)

I have a technium too. Fully restored and upgraded. I bought it in 1988 in Amsterdam and road approx 15000 km on it...
On the road as a Holliday bike and off road in the Dutch mountains on single track routes.
I will never sell the bike


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## ton de rijcke (Apr 11, 2010)

Only the frame and seat post are original


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## proto2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

See Rumphy, they rise from the dead.


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## Andrew1009 (Jan 6, 2013)

*Recent Purchase of the same bike*

Hey I have the same bike, the one I purchased is not only in great condition but unbelievably original for a bike that is 24 years old. I will post some pictures and also post the full spec.

It is original - totally. Even the 1.90 Ritchie tyres (with no cracks in the side walls and good for a 1000 miles). Original Dia comp blocks even the original bar grips are good. I am doing a clean and restore job on the bike - but it rides wonderfully - very differnt to a modern bike.

The Avocet saddle is actually what was fitted to the bike when new. It is light fast and a good fun 'street bike'.

Will post again soon with stuff.

andrew


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## syklystt (Mar 31, 2010)

heres one of me at the 92 gonzo mountain bike festival at snowtrails ski resort in ohio..
I just got this bike back...almost all original like i left it 20 years ago...i think its an 89 or 90 technium chill with dx components.


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## Miguello (Aug 21, 2011)

Rumpfy said:


> No doubt a gem. Big money to be had in Techniums.


That's got to be the *only* time I've ever heard that said before. Usually I can't give them away, mountain OR road versions.


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## syklystt (Mar 31, 2010)

just remmebered....a buddy of mine was taping one of the gonzo events..92 or 93??...and he captured a guy on video hitting a creek crossing type of down then up real quick area and the technium came unglued at the downtube/headtube junction and he crashed hard. I'd bet there's some cool footage from that race/festival on that tape.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

proto2000 said:


> See Rumphy, they rise from the dead.


You know its an old thread with 56k dial up referenced in the title!



Miguello said:


> That's got to be the *only* time I've ever heard that said before. Usually I can't give them away, mountain OR road versions.


Haha...I was kidding. These things are pretty low end and forgettable. Though the thread resurrector might disagree about their worth...


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## ton de rijcke (Apr 11, 2010)

I disagree, these bikes were pioneers and for me this frame is special.
I bought the bike and used it cycling fromthe south of France to the Netherlands, twice, around Tuscany in Italy, around Greece three times, circled Iceland and many other tours in holland.
And then decided not to ditch it but used it as a cross country bike in holland.

I have a canyon fully but I wil never sell my technium.
I used it this week equipped with spike tires to ride to work.
It was snowing this week and it worked perfect.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Ton, I think what happens is that some people comment regarding vintage bikes used as mountain bikes - dirt, rocks, roots. Not just big, fat gravely fire roads. And then there's the niche where a lot of bikes that don't do so well in those conditions are excellent touring bikes. Early bikes, to me, with eyelets, rack mounts, spoke holders fit this category perfectly.

Anyhow, that's my take on it. What you've done with yours is tremendous and it's nice to hear how far you've gone with it. People, including me, just differ on what we'd like our bikes to do and while we may disagree, we, or I, really appreciate when I hear stories like yours.

Thanks for posting and cheers from the US to Holland!


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## Benster (Mar 16, 2006)

Did someone bring up Techniums? Maybe there _really_ is potential for this bike! Just holds down the concrete in my garage anyway.


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## CCMDoc (Jan 21, 2010)

Wow, all this hate on glued-together Raleigh bikes ... 

Rumpfy, I think you should send me yours.

Better yet Rumpfy, send me *ALL* of your glued-together bikes regardless of make 

I can't bare the thought of you suffering with such ... ilk.


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## Uncle Grumpy (Oct 20, 2005)

Benster said:


> Did someone bring up Techniums? Maybe there _really_ is potential for this bike! Just holds down the concrete in my garage anyway.


Phwoar, that is sweet! Here's mine...









I think the Technium has nice looking geometry. Who cares about the weight and the lucky dip bonding process! 

Grumps


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## syklystt (Mar 31, 2010)

love the blue techniums.....mine is getting retrofitted with a bunch of blingy parts to be used as a light trail and townie bike(pics later)......as far as the bonding..its as good as any weld if its done right!....mine was tested in the first month i had it...if it didnt break then, it will not break....but i sure do!


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## Andrew1009 (Jan 6, 2013)

Interesting response to my post. 

I would not say that the Technuims are a low end bike personally. You may question the reliability of the pre 1989 frames in terms of hanging together but they did sort this out and I have never heard that any 1989 + frames have failed The components fitted to the frame were at the time from the best you could get and engineered to a high standard. No nasty bits of plastic on the shifters - derailluer or cage - alloy and steel. 

I have a Giant XTC1 which is a very nice bike, but whilst it is more complex and can deal with more than I would subject the Technuim to in terms of true MTB use, The basic enginering of the components is not as good as the Technuim. Just not the same quality.

I bought mine for £54.00 about $80.00 in great condition. Compared to the junk that people buy for £150 or $200 from 'online' shops this bike is worth twice that.

Andrew -


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