Raliegh Chopper

bearfraser

was thinking about my chopper (weh hey) remembering the crazy design,the "T" handle for the gears,good old 3 speed "Sturmey Archer" and the banana seat.
But was it the most dangerous bike ever built (front wheel would lift at speed) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

upperoilcan

By far the best ever bike to pop wheelies on even to this day.......

Cleat Eastwood

I had a dragster too in yellow




and a tomahawk





(although looking at them maybe my mum and dad just got me a dragster and hid my glasses)

best crashes you could ask for.

One Man And His Bike

I had a Tomahawk, they were awesome. Then I got a Boxer then the daddy of them all, the Raliegh Grifter.

That bike was so hard it used to go out at night and rape cars for fun, I'm sure they were built by Volvo or the guys that made Chieftan tanks, indestructible they were.

giant_man

Forget the Tomahawk and the silly Grifter, not to mention the Chipper, the bike to have was the Chopper.

Had a brand new Mk II in purple when I was 10, came off it twice, result stitches, but I bloody loved that bike ...

AndyF16

One Man And His Bike wrote:

I had a Tomahawk, they were awesome. Then I got a Boxer then the daddy of them all, the Raliegh Grifter.

That bike was so hard it used to go out at night and rape cars for fun, I'm sure they were built by Volvo or the guys that made Chieftan tanks, indestructible they were.

Yup the Grifter was the Ne plus ultra back then, IIRC I went from a crappy second-hand Chopper (stolen) to a Strika - mid size range between the Boxer and the Grifter

shouldbeinbed

One Man And His Bike wrote:

I had a Tomahawk, they were awesome. Then I got a Boxer then the daddy of them all, the Raliegh Grifter.

That bike was so hard it used to go out at night and rape cars for fun, I'm sure they were built by Volvo or the guys that made Chieftan tanks, indestructible they were.

my grifter was blue. it was cracking and who'd have thought scaffolding poles would have made a bike. loved it but by it was possibly the heaviest thing known to mankind.

MichaelW

I was so square wouldn't be caught dead on a Chopper. But then I never liked Gary Glitter either.

jj1048

I got knocked out by my chopper. Tried riding off a small drop, went over the handle bars and the bike landed on my head and knocked me out.

That crash also bent the forks so I replaced them with the only set I could find in the shed which happened to be off a road bike. It was a proper chopper after that

evil_breakfast

This was my first ever bike.



didn't even have the SA 3 gear hub. (unlike the photo)

my mate, however, had the blingier version.



And so, aged 9, I became acquainted with the concepts of resentment and jealously.

Stewie Griffin

Not mine but that was the Grifter I had. Check out the back light.

crumbschief

Ha i remember those lights Stewie,chunky 70s80s style,looked more suited to storing 20 smokes than lighting.

rake

those were called 'grufter's' in my neighourhood.

One Man And His Bike

evil_breakfast wrote:

And so, aged 9, I became acquainted with the concepts of resentment and jealously.

Yes, I know that feeling, shame when it happens so young...

II got my Grifter one year and later that year 2 friends (brothers) got the GT/GX(?) versions of the Grifter, that was slightly more posh and had a sexy black paint job. Made my Silver Grifter look crap and I was not amused, if I thought I could get away with it I would have set them on fire. The broterhs obviously, not the Grifters, I would have tried to keep them for myself (My own Grifter "Fleet", heheh.)

I got my own back a couple of years later after a growth spurt when I got treated to what I still consider one of the best looking bikes in the world and became the envy of all my mates because I got to own a...


MOTHERFLUFFING MONGOOSE!!!!

In an age where BMX Bandits was the height of cool (Who knew Nicole Kidman would go on to be ahem, ok she was hot even back then!) and BMX was just starting to become mainstream(?) for kids, it was the motherload to be handed a Mongoose and a full set of padded BMX Pants/Shirt, with a JET Helmet (Full face visor) at Christmas.

I know everyone went nuts for the Raleigh Burner back then, but where I was from they were everywhere, so my stunning Blue Max was awesome and rare.

redvee

I had a Chipper and my cousin had a Chopper, one thing that stays in my mind is the Strika had fake dual crown forks and, the one my mate had, a knackered freehweel.

Anonymous

Graeme Obree fixed the forks on my mark I Blue Grifter. He had the bike shop in Irvine for a while, not a clue who he was at the time, this must have been '83 or ''84ish.

Loved my Grifter, but made of material so dense it could bend light.

morstar

redvee wrote:

I had a Chipper and my cousin had a Chopper, one thing that stays in my mind is the Strika had fake dual crown forks and, the one my mate had, a knackered freehweel.

Are you sure it was a knackered freewheel? The Strika had back pedal braking.

I had the bling Commando posted earlier, but unlike the poster who envied such a machine, all my mates had the Strika and I was the odd man out. I did love my Commando but the machine built for the mammoth skid was the Strika!

As for those Ever Ready lights, you hardly ever saw the rear ones actually facing anywhere other than into the wheel and the front ones did a great job of leaping off the bracket at any lump in the road. Fun times.

evil_breakfast

morstar

No rear caliper brakes on this one.

blackpoolkev

A friend had a chopper,it was one of the early ones with the gear knob that screwed down onto the gearstick.However the gear knob had gone missing, leaving the exposed spike-like gear stick.
As my 10 year old pal rode his chopper across a farmer's field(fully laden with fishing gear),the bike was brought to a sudden stop by the rough ground.He slid forward and had his scrotum pierced by the gear stick.Thankfully he suffered no lasting damage and now has two children to prove it.

evil_breakfast

morstar wrote:

As for those Ever Ready lights, you hardly ever saw the rear ones actually facing anywhere other than into the wheel and the front ones did a great job of leaping off the bracket at any lump in the road. Fun times.

yeah, they were soooo 'dad' weren't they? All the kids wanted were


So much nolstagia....

tobermory

I had a chopper in the new colour of ultra violet ,the other ne colour was infra red they were supposed to jazz up blue and beige yellow

edhornby

I remember those lights, they were total bobbins - I can remember my uncle dennis bought some LEDs and PCB from tandy and made his own in the 80s cos he was so hacked off with them...

redvee

Ever Ready lights, check. Huuugge D cell batteries, check. Corrosion on the batteries and terminals, damn, new lights and betteries

luv2ride

No photo's unfortunately but I had a (big) purple chopper It was a MkII and ended up with the bubblegum card in the rear spokes held on with a clothes peg to make the "motorbike" noise and cowhorn handlebars (don't ask!). Was a death trap but loved it with a passion, until I managed to fall through the bars riding uphill and split my chin open!

Neighbour had a MkI with the round gear knob and nicer bars - always thought that looked real classy 8)

fuelex

Silver strika for me same as the earlier pic.
It was the coolest thing ever
.....until my super burner for my seventh birthday.
fond memories!

morstar

Luv2ride wrote:

No photo's unfortunately but I had a (big) purple chopper It was a MkII and ended up with the bubblegum card in the rear spokes held on with a clothes peg to make the "motorbike" noise and cowhorn handlebars (don't ask!). Was a death trap but loved it with a passion, until I managed to fall through the bars riding uphill and split my chin open!

Neighbour had a MkI with the round gear knob and nicer bars - always thought that looked real classy 8)

You had cow horn handlebars on a Chopper? Surely your chin was on the floor anyway.

I only progressed to cowhorn handlebars when we built our own 'scrambler' bikes using old road bike frames.

forcutty

dmclite wrote:

Graeme Obree fixed the forks on my mark I Blue Grifter. He had the bike shop in Irvine for a while, not a clue who he was at the time, this must have been '83 or ''84ish.

Loved my Grifter, but made of material so dense it could bend light.

Talking of Obree I've always thought that he should team up with Hotpoint to make an advert of some kind. That would be epic for both parties

t4tomo

evil_breakfast wrote:

my mate, however, had the blingier version.



And so, aged 9, I became acquainted with the concepts of resentment and jealously.

I had one of those for my second bike, first one was some hand me down thing from someone. That said the commando was 2nd hand to but far cooler!