pepperbelly

I have a couple of Raleigh roadbikes my dad bought new in the early '80s. One is an aluminum Technium and the other is a steel frame Grand Prix. I have seen many variations of each mentioned and don't really know what I have.
The Technium is marked 6061 TS on the frame downtube. The Grand Prix is marked 531 aluminum butted and has all 105 components.

Creme Brulee

aluminum butted grand prix? anyway, nice bikes. whats up with the spacers on the rear brake? do the arms hit the stays or something?

pepperbelly

I really don't know much about them. I didn't even know there were different models of each bike- I though Grand Prix and Technium were the model.
I don't know why about the spacers either. In fact I didn't notice- I just thought they were the way they were made.

I would appreciate any insight anyone can give me on them. So far the Grand Prix seems nicer to ride, but neither are set up for me yet. I will be working on that this weekend.

Jim

auchencrow

Hi pepperbelly - Your GP is not aluminum - It's good old Reynolds English steel.
The Raleigh Grand Prix's, formerly 20-30 high tension steel, were upgraded to butted Reynolds531 after production left Nottingham and Huffy bought the rights to the Raleigh name ~1982.
These later Reynolds GPs are reputed to be very nice riders. (They must be really nice because IMHO, the ride of my two old '73 GP's is none too shabby.)


There is a lot of very useful information on Raleigh at Kurt's "Headbadge" website. You should check it out.


PS- Here is the link to the '86 GP catalog page at the Headbadge.

pepperbelly

I have been doing more reading on these bikes. I am still trying to decipher the serial number info.

On my red Technium, what does Tri Lite on the front forks mean? I read one article about Scott Tinsley, but I haven't read what the significance is.

Jim

Gravity Aided

I believe that's the model name . I think Scott Tinsley was a triathlon racer, who won the Hawaii Ironman . The bikes were a little better than the numbered models of Technium. I believe your chainstays and seatstays and maybe fork are steel . Since this is a Raleigh USA bike, it may have been made in Washington state at Huffy's plant there . Very well made bikes . There have been some reports of the adhesive failing on these Technium bikes , but I used one for a daily rider when I was still 350 pounds .

pepperbelly

Well I have one less thing to worry about. When oiling the chain on the Grand Prix I noticed that the chainring on the crankset looked out of round. I didn't see any damage.
After more reading I read and saw a pic of a sticker that looked familiar.
I have a Biopace chainring on this bike.

silvercreek

I'm not sure if this is an early 80's or not but here my Technium that my nephew gave me. It needs a chain, brake pads and handlebars tape.

pepperbelly

Does someone have a better resource for Raleigh serial numbers? I checked the Headbadge site and the Raleigh numbers are not too helpful.
The serial numbers on these 2 bikes are very different.
The Grand Prix's number is 7AN1247 with a capital M under that number.
The Technium's number is R822470260.
From the Headbadge site it looks like the Grand Prix would have been made in '87 and the Technium in '88. I know that isn't correct because mom and dad used to ride them over to my house before '85.

Jim

Gravity Aided

The GP looks to be Taiwan built. What year did Raleigh move production there ? That may be at least a clue .

redneckwes

Raleigh (In all it's incarnations) tended to be somewhat vague on trivial things like serial numbers. They loved to torture us by simply never picking one system and staying with it for any length of time.

pepperbelly

I took the Technium to my LBS today so they could check the freehub- I thought it had a problem. It doesn't, but the rear derailleur is pretty worn.
I left it so they could replace the derailleur, cable and both tires. After being stored in the garage for a couple of decades the tires were dry rotted pretty badly.
When I pick it up I should have a good reliable bicycle. I plan on adding a wireless computer to track my miles and start getting serious on it.
I will check the tires on the Grand Prix but I think they were changed more recently than the Technium. It will get a computer too and I hope my wife will ride with me.

Gravity Aided

A couple of very nice bikes there,
Pepperbelly - enjoy the ride,
and let us know how it goes .