Just some context for those who are curious, I recently received this bike from my godfather who got this bike from a Japanese man over 20 years ago, he said he took it as it had the same value as a small cheap deck, my godfather said that this bike was custom built in Japan and flown to America around 1999-2003 (I’m not sure, and neither is he)
Anyways this thing has been babied its entire time spent in a basement, I really love the look of this bike and want to take care of it but when I went to get it checked out every 5 star bike shop in my area either said to pay them to research the bikes gear problem (they’re asking 275 an hour to research the gears alone).
So guys all I can ask if you guys can please help me identify what type of gear mechanic this bike uses and is there anything I can do to find a good shop that actually knows what it’s called.
I see that it has levers and that’s how you change gears but when riding the right one moves but always returns to the hardest gear
And the left one is just loose
by Final-Candle5371
12 Comments
Those are friction levers. A simple turn of the screw on each of the levers will increase or decrease the lever tightness. The limit screws on each derailleur do the rest for keeping the chain on the gears.
They are shifters.
Looking at this bike with the friction levers and suicide brakes, its not custom, just a lower end bike. I think its an earlier bike from the 80s. Higher end and cystom road bikes would not gave supported suicide brakes and these type of friction levers. The shiters would have been mounted to the downtube on the frame.
This looks like a low end 1960’s 10 speed bike, it would be nice to have a photo of the crank and rear wheel.
It was common in those days to mount the shift levers this way so you didn’t have to reach down to them of mounted on the down tube. The levers are marked as Shimano, a quality maker though these are likely in their low priced line.
The left side lever shifts the front chainring (guessing the rear only two chain rings) and the right side shits the rear freewheel gears, likely five gears. Making this a “10 speed” bike.
The brakes also are dual levers, which also allowed the rider to sit in a more upright position.
Super old hipster gears. Stop idiots stealing your bike because they can’t change gear 😆
As a mechanic id recommend some upgrades to make it feel nice again. New tyres and tubes. And potentially new wheels. If it’s old the wheels can sometimes be too far gone. Small things like new bar tape pedals or saddle (contact points) Make things feel nice too. Chain and cassette are probably toast as well as the brake pads but get the mechanic to look at that. Have fun with it it seems like a cool old bike to keep around
From what I can see of the decals it is a Raleigh Technium frame built in the USA using many Japanese parts. There were many models under the technium label. This one is mid to lower level. A decent bike at time for a recreational rider. Certainly not custom or specially imported.
Those are called friction shifters and any shop worth its salt will know how to adjust them, you can too. It’s easy once you know how they work.
Basically instead of clicking through the gears like on a regular bike friction shifters require you to pull the cable and therefore the shifters into position manually in order for the bike to shift gears.
The reason they aren’t staying in gear is that there isn’t enough friction to resist the pull of the cable. To fix this just tighten the screw on the side of each shift lever, adding friction to the shifter and keeping it in place rather than it sliding back, good luck
it’s a Raleigh Technium. the frames are made of aluminum tubes bonded (glued) to steel lugs (joints). i love these bikes. i find them very workable, able to fit decently sized tires with fenders. in fact i have commuted on one for years! they also come in nice colors, mine is pink 🙂
the shifters are run-of-the-mill stem shifters. they are very simple: they hold the cable in place by squeezing it tightly. if the right shifter is slipping back to the hardest gear, that is simply because it is not squeezing tightly enough. if it can’t be tightened by hand then all it needs is a big flat-head screwdriver usually.
stem-shifters are usually indicative of pretty low-end bikes. they are, i would argue, the worst type of shifter, though they have some small favorable attributes. that being said, i still quite like the Technium frames usually so i wouldn’t abandon it entirely.
one other note: because of the age of these bikes, the glue that holds the whole thing together has a tendency to become brittle and separate over time. you MUST have the frame closely looked at to see that the joints are still holding together. my technium is still solid as a rock, but i have seen at least a few that were about ready to fall apart.
F**k. I’m that old… Had a similar setup in the 1960s.
Any shop that was going to charge you $275/hr to “research” friction shifters on the stem is not a 5 star shop. That’s embarrassing for those shops.
Bar end shifters are nice too if that sounds like your thing.
I only volunteer at a bike coop and I know what those are.
My high school grad present had friction shift levers – they are continuous pull and are not indexed, simple, elegant, thus can be used with almost any gear setup.
A bike shop that has to “research” common, basic stem-mounted friction shifters? I literally can’t fathom that. You need to find a better shop.
In the meantime, those are super easy to work on. You’re already getting lots of tips, and there are numerous videos on YouTube.