Made an interesting find/ score at a recycling center today for a whopping 10 bucks, an older Raleigh of America-Technium. Pretty grubby but it looks like it will overhaul/clean up nicely. Best part is that it fits me like a glove.
I've never heard of this model before. Not a half bad looking bike and very lite but I suspect fragile too. I was really looking for a nice set of cage pedals for my Miyata Street Runner and the pedals on this are what first grabbed my eye. Heck, I would have paid 10 bucks just for them!

Anybody know anything about the background on these things?
Is it a gem or a lemon?

They are cool bikes. I cant remember the site off hand but theres one out there ( google ) that goes in to detail about the process they used to make those frames. Very cool bikes and cant be beat for 10.00.

I have one that I turned into a fixed gear. Fantastic comfortable and durable frame. It withstands the stomping of a 215 lb 6'3" guy going up NJ hills witha 42-15 and nary flexes or complains.

I owned three versions the Steel 531? & 732? or something and the Metal matrix. I did like the bike but I had warranty issues needed all but the Metal Matrix replaced. Nice frames very light...

Enjoy. Check the luggs, that is where I had issues...look for craps and missing bands that go around the lug&tube section.
Enjoy

That seat doesn't look comfortable.

I had one and it killed a dog a split second before it, too, perished. I liked it, though.

For a minute I thought the seat was red, then no, it's gone!

That seat looks like a killer for sure. light though.

Wasted no time in stripping it down to the frame, giving it a good scrubbing and through inspection.
Straight and true as an arrow w no cracks. The aforementioned banding is all there. Paint is servicable but there are a few scratches that look like mostly hanger rash.
Tires,chain, cables, handle bar tape and this baby is on the road!
Can hardly wait to see how it rides!!!
Especially glad to read post #3 as this thing is so light I was concerned it may be a bit delicate. Not that I am any beast of a rider but I do weigh 200lbs and will possibly replace my present commuter with this and give it some real use, depending on how she rides of course.
My favorite bike ever was an all Campy Raleigh Super Course (had to sell after divorce ) and the frame layout is similar. If it rides at all like that bike I will be one very happy camper.

Looks like a 86 Technium 460.
Techniums are made in Kent, WA. 3 alcoa 6061-T8 main tubes glued to chro-moly rear triangle, and head tube and fork.
Some find them flexible due to the AL tubes. Others love their ride and lightness. The cool thing to me is the internal cable routing to the rear brake.

The Technium line is in the 1986 Raleigh USA catalog on the Headbadge website.
https://www.jaysmarine.com/TH_raleigh_cat_usa86.html

My first vintage find was a two-fer-- a Technium 460 and Batuvus Champion for a total price of $30. I like the color of yours--mine is silver with lavender headtube, kinda blah.

Mine has become one of my favorite bikes it climbs very well, very little flex very predictable handling and no surprises when riding hands off the bars. I think you'll be happy with it. Mine has a set off lighter 700c wheels on it with a single front chainring utilizing the Sakae crank and a old set of Dura ace brakes I had laying about. I bought mine for $25.00 off ebay several years ago. It was a craptastic 80's magenta and black that got pranged up during shipping so I stripped and rattle canned it with black laquer and put on the old Raleigh Professional livery just to start conversations.

I have an 89 with blue anodized main tubes and white chromoly lugs, stays, and head tube. I always loved the way it sang on the road, but alas, it was perhaps always a bit small for me (or maybe I got too big.) I've moved on to larger frames and fitted it for my son.

I figure it will take me a week or two to get this bike back on the road. I'll post pic's when done.

Almost forgot to mention, someone at the recycling center had seen "Aluminium" on the frame and tossed it in the scrap heap!

So excited about progress on this ride that I had to post a recent pic.
Got everything overhauled/ re-packed/ cleaned ect.
Got tires and stainless spokes on the way.
I can hardly wait to take this out for a spin!

Question for you Technium gurus.

I noticed under the down tube, just below where the sifters mount, there is a small ( about 6mm) gusseted hole.
What the heck is that for????

Maybe it's a mount for aero shifter levers? They did that for a while around the time that bike was made.

I was thinking that but it just doesn't look right. It would also put the shifters over the decals which doesn't seem like a thing the factory would do.?

flick stand? maybe

The placement is right, you may be on to something. If I am not mistaken the flickstand was kind of faddy right about the time this frame was made too.

it be sweet if you could find one for it but no one really makes em anymore.

They were just talking about that in another thread somewhere. Seems they still pop up on ebay from time to time. It probably wouldn't be all that difficult to whip up a copy either.

Actually, the material for the main tubes is 6013 aluminum, chosen because of its higher tensile and yield strength compared to 6061. The rear triangles and forks were manufactured in Asia to cut costs, then shipped to Kent, WA for assembly to the main triangle.

My info about the main tubes come from the sticker attached to my former 86 Technium 440 and Raleigh USA's brochure. The frame sticker looked like this one off an 88 model.

I believe I have a similar sticker on my unknown-year Technium Pro.
Did they make ongoing manufacturing changes through the Technium product cycle? Could the 6013 tubes be spec for their Mtb's?

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Picked up this 440 afew years ago for 4 bucks. Paint scheme looks just like yours. Nice riding bikes.

My reference was specifically to the OP's bicycle, which uses 6013 main tubes, as did all three of the 1986, 1st generation models. Raleigh did switch to 6061 for the 1987models, so it's always possible that the change happened sometime during the 1986 model year, but the original production runs were 6013. Over the years, Raleigh would use the Technium bonding process on several materials. Offhand, I recall Easton (E9?), Reynolds 531 and Reynolds 753.