Whats a chopper?

nolf

I've come across this phrase a few times (no I haven't been called one).

It seems to be derogatory, but don't know exactly what it means...

Anyone?

rogerthecat

:-|

.

Smokin Joe

A Chopper is a motorcycle which has been customised by the owner so that it is dog slow and handles like an aircraft carrier on a bad day. The poor souls who specialise in these heaps think that a paint job that looks like splattered vomit somehow makes up for the complete unrideability and makes them look cool.

Sad wannabes triy to imitate them with bicycle lookalikes.

skinson

A chopper was a bike made by Raleigh in the 1970's, it had a three speed sturmey archer wheel, A small front and a large rear wheel made to look like a motorcycle.

Dave

fast as fupp

see also AXE and PENIS (slang) :shock:

Garz

Talking of older bikes, remember the grifter:

fungus_the_muffin_man

Blue grifters were the way forward
I always remember mine as a bit of a tank that i could chuck, wheelie, jump over anything and anywhere I wanted to. It looks a bit weedy in this pic

I LOVED MY GRIFTER

Flasheart

Back on Oz as a kid I had one of these



Yes the 70's were bloody sad :roll:

Garz

Now Flas, if you completed a 100 miler on that it would be some achievement!

skinson

I actually invented the mountain bike! In 1970 I fitted a pair of raleigh runabout (moped) wheels to my old push bike. It had hub brakes & big (2") nobbly tyres. It was a great mud plugger. Pity I didn't have the foresight to take it to raleigh...although I was only 12 at the time.
Dave

rally200

Garz wrote:

Talking of older bikes, remember the grifter:

strange, I remember the Grifter as looking like a MTB, maybe I was thinking of the "Bomber" http://www.raleigh-bomber.co.uk/

on the road

nolf wrote:

I've come across this phrase a few times (no I haven't been called one).

It seems to be derogatory, but don't know exactly what it means...

Anyone?

You must be very young

Flasheart

Garz wrote:

Now Flas, if you completed a 100 miler on that it would be some achievement!

Along with a being a miracle aye

IIRC when you changed gear, you had to pedal backwards :shock:
Mine was purple btw

bompington

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Blue grifters were the way forward
I always remember mine as a bit of a tank that i could chuck, wheelie, jump over anything and anywhere I wanted to. It looks a bit weedy in this pic

I LOVED MY GRIFTER

Sudden flash of nostalgia when I saw that front light. I well remember cycling along unlit country roads with that little 3ft square of light on the ground 10ft in front of you... how did we all survive?

crispybug3

God, how badly did i want one of those when I was a kid??


And how long did it take before I realised that they were a total heap of shoite?

Not very long I'll tell you!!

The worst part was if you were going downhill and to brake sharply, you'll notice how the seat slopes down vey slightly and on sharp application of the brakes you would slide forward and smash your knackers on the gear shifter convieniently placed directly in front of you and you'd be singing soprano for a week!!!

giant_man

No they weren't shoite, they were wonderful. I had a mk 2 in purple and it was the dogs danglies, great bikes. Waaaay more iconic than the Grifter too.

jimycooper

theres the bike...

and theres the insult...
if you are called a chopper, you may have a nice bike and not shave your legs, or ride a road race with the peak on your helmet, ect........ the phrase is used by the younger generation of cyclists ( :roll: ) as a derogatory term

(take note these are not my personal opinions)

on the road

Izzy\'s daddy wrote:

The worst part was if you were going downhill and to brake sharply, you'll notice how the seat slopes down vey slightly and on sharp application of the brakes you would slide forward and smash your knackers on the gear shifter convieniently placed directly in front of you and you'd be singing soprano for a week!!!

Thanks for reminding me, not. Now I can remember the pain

paulwakefield

Do you remember a year or 2 ago, Halfords were selling raleigh choppers, about 3 colleagues at my workplace bought one, I believe they were around £150 ish, limited edition, kinda wish i'd got one might be worth a bit.... or might not.

on the road

I wish we had of kept our choppers from the 70's.

Garz

Right lads, get your choppers out.... (ooh err)

deptfordmarmoset

Do wind-powered choppers count? ( London Skyride)

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=ho ... 1038577470