Yup, bikes find me.

I own a few old Raleigh Techniums, and somewhat shockingly to some, only one of them is broken, and it isn't a case of the steel section coming unbonded from the aluminum, so hopefully some day I'll learn how to replace that cracked dropout. I recognize that as a somewhat meandering opening sentence with a lot of "some", but I've found the Technium is a great bike for meandering, which is just the type of riding I particularly enjoy.

So, imagine the extremity of my pleasure last week when I found a Technium in the scrap metal pile at Hampshire Bike Exchange, although yes, some sadness as well that such a wonderful machine could be considered scrap. And hark, it even had post brake mounts, which along with the drop bars tricked me into thicking it was the so-rare-I've-seen-only-the-one-owned-by-friend-Brendan cyclocross model!

I'd never stepped back far enough to judge the obviously 26" wheels.

Happily, I wasn't too disappointed to realize it was actually a mountain bike. I like mountain bikes. I also have a pair of brakes with tall enough pad adjustment that they could work with 700c wheels, even with that low post placement. I also like cyclocross bikes with crazy high bottom brackets, so it may still serve as the singlespeed cross bike of my dreams! And yes, another great feature of the Techniums, in addition to the fun ride quality, is horizontal dropouts to allow tensioning a singlespeed chain.

As a general rule, I think singlespeed bikes are silly, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. My first introduction to things Technium was in the form of a bike salvaged from the town transfer station, a.k.a. dump. It had antiquated 27" wheels and was missed the plastic downtube cable stop, but that didn't matter when I resurrected it as a fixed gear, and plentiful unwanted 27" tires were a boon once I learned to skid stop and started flat spotting rear rubber.

I also liked the ride quality and tire clearance so much I started hunting for one of higher end models with downtube shifter mounts, which I eventually found, and years later, sadly broke. Maybe Techniums just don't survive a choice of gears well. But a singlespeed cx bike, that makes sense to me, for a given definition of "sense". Cross courses are often fairly flat, except for a few uphills so steep they're intended for running. See, singlespeed, right?

But the title of this post used the word "bikes", as in the plural of singular "bike", and the Technium was so last week. Yesterday, I trailered home a literal roadside find, that despite a lack of horizontal dropouts, does have 700c wheels, and I'm not at all cross about novelty of a Crosstrail towing a Crossroads!

This combo should cover all surfaces.