Goodbye, old steel bikes with friction shifters. I'm moving on to modern indexed shifters, and space-age aluminum.

Nah, that is 100% satire. I've just snagged this neat Raleigh Technium for the best possible price of free; it was listed for several months, eventually dropping to $75, before being listed for free. The previous owner was moving, so he couldn't wait until warmer weather to sell. It is totally equipped with Shimano 600 tricolor, which was not shown in the listing photos, or I would have probably bought it at $75. Only the front derailleur is the original Suntour 🅰️5000. I've heard all the horror stories, yes, which is why I've mostly avoided them. I'm just curious if exposure to road salt is likely to exacerbate the lug failure issues?

that Quintana Roo looks like it was set up for a Graeme Obree style position!

they‘re actually really nice things to ride in the aero bars, Dan Empfield got the frame geometry spot on. A pity that the market for 650c road and triathlon bikes is vanishingly small these days. It looks in time capsule condition.

A great "buy"!

Who told you that the Alpha 5000 was junk? They are not junk. People who had problems only did so due to running into compatibility problems, but only on the rear Alpha 5000 derailleur had the issues and that's because those REQUIRED anaAlpha freewheel or any 4-notch Suntour freewheel, Suntour AP chain, Accushift shifters and cables, and Accushift rear derailleur cable because those were compressionless housing cables, thus the most difficult part of restoring the 5000 rear was finding the freewheel and the AP chain, probably the chain will be the most difficult part to find? But if the only 5000 on the bike is the front derailleur you shouldn't require any of that stuff the rear would require to operate correctly.

Even if you still had the 5000 rear, all you would have to do is switch off the index mode and use it in friction mode, which worked wonderfully.

Unless the front derailleur has a weak or broken spring I would leave it on; OR, you could find a Shimano Tri Color 600 front derailleur to match the rear, they're only around $25 on Ebay used of course, there are NIBs for $70 to $100, but a new front might look odd with a used rear.any

Sorry, poor phrasing on my part. I have heard of the alpha series and Accushift being finicky, but wasn't particularly worried about it because if that doesn't work you still have a functional friction shifting system.

I was referring to the horror stories surrounding Aluminum-lugged bikes, of which I've heard Techniums were probably the most problematic.

I think a5000 was fourth in Suntour's line at the time behind Superbe pro, Sprint, and then Cyclone. From what I could find the bike originally came with a5000, and fjnding an almost complete Tricolor group was a pleasant surprise.

Don't worry about it! Most of these frames didn't fail, and this one looks pristine. You are so far ahead on this deal, if it ever does come apart, find another frame. Do your own experiment and ride the patootie out of it to see if you can make it fail -- just report back when you either have a tube pull out or hit 10k km without a problem..

I keep looking for a nice Peloton in my size, though i have no idea where I would put it. I guess something else would have to go, but candidates do exist for that!
That QR on the other hand, with its jacked up stem and aero bars speaks to everything wrong with triathlon.

I saw someone post that bikes from the 90's are getting no respect. I don't know the year of this bike, but it was piled among about 60 bikes at a local thrift store awaiting processing. The manager said they had too many bikes they were all half off. I dug this one out, and asked him to price it. $30 and half off. Here on the west cost, south of San Francisco, I am finding really nice bikes being dropped off at non-profits almost every week. I don't pick them all up, my bike alley is full! But I did get this one for a student who is coming to teach a seminar here at at a local college. This should fit him and hope it suits his needs. He wanted a" fast bike and drop bars". Will this do you think? He stated height 187.5 cm of 6'2". 58cm to middle of top tube, TT length 57cm. Serial Number N2G0624 Deep Blue.
I have no knowledge base, but hoping for some info from you wonderful lot!


Raleigh what???

Cyclone 2 Freewheel looks very clean

Chainrings in great shape, will send close up of rings

Cinelli Criterium

Stronglight Galli headset

More Photos

Anodized pedals? Bronze or faded black



Very cool curve on these bars!




Seatpost




Chainrings look great




White paint on top tube should clean up well. No rust on the frame anywhere

I'm not familiar enough with Raleigh to say, but it looks like a pretty top end model. Does it have lug cutouts? What do the rear dropouts say? I see some letters but can't make it out. Does the reynolds 531 sticker mention if it's double butted, and if it includes all frame tubes, or just the main tubes?

This Gaggia Classic was at the transfer station on Tuesday. The pump and boiler worked but no flow though the group head. The boiler had mountains of scale, so I cleaned it out along with the three-way valve and after a few rounds it flowed like a champ and I got a great shot on my second try. It's a nice upgrade to a similar one I have that's about 20 years older with fewer features.

Haven't really shown this one here, Trek 4000 with Maroochi air fork and mostly xt components. Nearly all salvage saved from the dump build.

Check out various Raleigh websits like Sheldon Brown https://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/
You can also check the serial number. I'd guess a Competition GS but only guessing

My theory with bonded frames is that if it was going to break it would have by now. I've had a few (Trek, Miyata) and never had an issue. The only thing I ran into was the shift bosses on the Treks. The frames were solid. Great score for free there!

Thanks Marnar,

Will check it out.
Nubra

Snagged this at the local non-profit used bike place just before it was to be parted out. 1987 Trek 1200 Aluminum. Looks to be mostly original Tri-Color 600 except for Dura-Ace FD. Paint is about a 9 out of 10. Needs all the consumables and a brake lever hood but it should clean up nice.

I drove more than an hour each way today to score two bikes for $10 each. I am having trouble dating the Ross Gran Tour, but it came with a good Vetta saddle of my favorite variant, and it is in my size range, and it's built with Ishiwata EX 4130 triple-butted tubing and has longish horizontal dropouts, so ... we'll see.



But the real reason for driving down to the outskirts of Aiken, SC was to grab this 22-in 1989 Trek 850 with its Tange butted chro-mo frame and serviceable looking LX parts kit.



I think initially this one will get a basic teardown, cleanse, repack and reassemble with fresh consumables. I'm thinking either Paselas or Michelin Country Rocks in 1.75 width and making it my casual/beater/family vacation bike - but I have a lot of what I would need to make it a dropped bar conversion, and I've been kinda wanting one of those, too ... we'll see.

That would have been sold as a frameset and built up from whatever the owner had or wanted. Full DB5531 in midnight blue with chrome dropout faces sure sounds like the model Michael's Cyclery called the Competition 531:


Nice score for $15!
Search for threads about the Raleigh-sonic bikes, like this one:
Japanese built Raleigh International: Raleisonic?

What finds! The Ross is intriguing. The frame sounds as if it was made with far superior components than what has been mounted on it. BTW, that rear wheel looks like one of my builds.

A couple more cheap old bikes to keep me busy on cold days.
1986 Cannondale ST500 (tourer)
Pretty rough, but all original Shimano 600 components
1988 Raleigh USA Scott Tinley Tri-lite
Tidy, and all original SunTour Cyclone components

Third bike in three days,
Ran out this morning and picked up this ~1988 Team Lemond Club which had been single speeded and ridden in Minneapolis for several years.....
Rusty and ratty, but the cheapest of the three.
Took it apart this afternoon and started working on the stuck seat post. Got it to rotate a little, and it's soaking now.



I think I figured it out.... Not only is the vintage bike craze "over", but they're at the top of the new year resolution - "Clean out the JUNK" list.

Picked up an 1980 Peugeot PX10 (I believe) and a 88 Cannondale Black Lightning! Each for $80

What a coincidence! I just brought home a Cannondale Black Lightning Trying to decide what to do with it, along the lines of definitely putting it on the road for a fun time.

As it came to me.

I definitely didn't need another set of wheels BUT the hubs to rims are absolutely purrrr-fect. As are the head set and bottom bracket. It's my first road bike and I haven't had good times trying drop bars in the past. But, these Nitto bars are just beautiful. I'll start a thread, soon, on this one, figuring out how much I'll keep it road and if it'll become something different.

Four bikes in five days!
1996 Cannondale R600 in matte viper red
Missing wheel, ding in the top tube, and all the various problems you might find in a $40 bike


Stuck Team LeMond seat post came out with an hour's work this morning. PB Blaster works great and is easy to find.


What is the tube decal (?) with four colored propeller?

Nice grab on those Black Lightnings! I have had one for a long time and always one of my favorites.