Nostalgia bikes

SimonAH

After one eye opening post recently from a forumite who did not recognise downtube shifters I got to thinking about older bikes - specifically those I rode as a kid.

Grifter anyone? Raleigh Bomber? I never had a Chopper tho'

cue lots of tiny or lacking penis comments no doubt

chilling

I had a Grifter. I can remember when my mate got a proper BMX bike. I had a go and suddenly realised the reason I couldn't do most tricks was that the Grifter was made from Uranium and so weighed approximately the same as an Eddie Stobartt truck.

The Rookie

Raligh Hustler, had one when I was 13 (second hand) rode it for 5 years, went to my Sister for a year then I bought it back when I lost that job and went to Uni for 3 years....I converted it from 3sp Surmey to 5 speed Derailleur with the help of a friend. Always had a slightly twisted frame so was impossible to ride hands off!

Simon

gtvlusso

Started off on a "Budgie" bike.

I then had a Raleigh Commando, Raleigh Chrome Burner BMX, California Star BMX, Haro BMX, Raleigh Mustang MTB, Muddy Fox MTB......Fast Motorbikes.....Sports Cars......Really fast Motorbikes (again).....Children....Commuter/road/mtb bicycles and Family cars

mudcow007

was the Raleigh grifter green? had a similar seat to the chopper?

i had one of them passed down through the family when i go it, it looked as if it had been in the war, i loved it though

what was the black bike with mag wheels an had a computer on the cross bar? i had one of them too

then i had a "townsend" lime green an pink mountain bike

Carera instinct

Scott Tampico

Kona Stinky

Spesh Tricross

mudcow007

mudcow007 wrote:

was the Raleigh grifter green? had a similar seat to the chopper?

i had one of them passed down through the family when i go it, it looked as if it had been in the war, i loved it though

Raleigh Striker is was, with genuine fake suspension forks on the front

ahhh the memories......

rjsterry

SimonAH wrote:

After one eye opening post recently from a forumite who did not recognise downtube shifters I got to thinking about older bikes - specifically those I rode as a kid.

Grifter anyone? Raleigh Bomber? I never had a Chopper tho'

cue lots of tiny or lacking penis comments no doubt

Yeah, I was stunned into silence by that one. Not sure I'd have been as diplomatic as Nicklouse. I had a Chopper (secondhand); I came to grief on that bloody gear shift on one occasion - the neighbour came running out to see what the noise was about. Then I graduated to a Dawes tourer (well, tourer-shaped: 5-speed steel framed road bike with drop bars and a rack, but child-sized). Then I inherited my dad's steel BSA 10-speed - that's still hanging in his garage awaiting a restoration project - before getting the Giant that I'm still riding all the way back in 1997.

Confusedboy

Raleigh Explorer (1964). My mates had the Triumph Palm Beach, a more or less standard 26" wheel 3-speed SA bike of the time that was virtually standard issue for schoolboys, but my skinflint dad, who could easily have bought the Palm Beach I wanted, bought me the Explorer instead. Despite being single speed, it was heavier and slower than the Beach, and I was always being left behind, and the brakes were crap. It was rubbish. Years later I briefly owned it's spititual successor, a BSO called a Raleigh Lizard, which at least had a nice paint job. These were the worst bikes I ever owned, and I have an Apollo Code.

Why Raleigh, a firm with a reputation to look after, got involved with this sort of thing, which they repeatedly did over many years, is a mystery to me, but the misery they engendered must have put countless potential cyclists off the idea. The hack Code, cheap and cheerful and about as basic as it gets, at least does the job and can maintain 15 mph on the level; now I have replaced the dire twistgrip changers with friction ones recycled from a skip bike I am happy enough with it. Something a bit nicer is planned when I can afford it though.

pastasauce

RALEIGH BOMBER !

A real mans mtb ....

richVSrich

SimonAH wrote:

After one eye opening post recently from a forumite who did not recognise downtube shifters I got to thinking about older bikes - specifically those I rode as a kid.

Grifter anyone? Raleigh Bomber? I never had a Chopper tho'

cue lots of tiny or lacking penis comments no doubt

yeah that was me... *shrugs*... i know better now!

Flyingbogey

Raleigh Chopper but loved my mates grifter mainly for the colour coded gear shifters. I progressed to a second hand road bike (racer) but i always wanted a diamond back mongoose BMX.[/code]

Keith1983

Well I had one of those funny things that claimed to have a computer on it, when in reality is was just a button and a selector to choose from a range of annoying noises. A Raleigh Streetwolf I believe! I then had some funny pirple thing with wheel disks in both wheels and then a Raleigh Activator, probably the worst suspension fork ever fitted to a bike! From then on it was a Claud Butler MTB, followed by a Saracen MTB then onto the cheap raleigh MTB I have at the moment and my Virtuoso and my Vicenza road bikes.

Flyingbogey

Mistake, i meant Tommahawk

fatbabyjake

mudcow007 wrote:

was the Raleigh grifter green? had a similar seat to the chopper?

i had one of them passed down through the family when i go it, it looked as if it had been in the war, i loved it though

what was the black bike with mag wheels an had a computer on the cross bar? i had one of them too


Was the black bike the Raleigh Vektar?

I remember a mate having a white one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rare-Raleigh-Vekt ... 53e7d5903d

Small Fish

My first was a Raleigh Chipper - lile a chopper only smaller. I'd had it a matter of days when a wheelie went wrong... I crashed into the kerb, went over the handlebars and knocked two front teeth out!

Next was a Raleigh Europa - a mini version of a proper racer with 24" wheels. I remember saving up £55 to buy it from Halfords in either 1978 or 79...

fatbabyjake

I remember having the Chopper and then progressing onto the the Burner. My latter years of childhood were spent with a bike i can't even remember the name of. Just that it had drop bars but not skinny road tyres.

I occasionaly would pinch my dads racer which IIRC was a Falcon Rapier. Could be wrong about that though, my memory's not what it used to be.

pastasauce

Bending the front mudguard back on my brothers Grifter so it sounded like a motorbike was fun.

Till it wore out .........

Swansea_Dave

My parent couldn't afford a new Chopper so they found me a second hand Tracker, which was a Chopper-wanabee with the same 'nads endangering T-shifter for the Sturmey Archer 3 speed.

Like a Chopper but more pants. I loved it though.

Gussio

Raleigh Burner BMX with yellow mag wheels. Man, that was a sweet bike.

Raleigh Criterion in metallic blue that I dearly wish I'd kept hold of.

snooks

Owned from new
Raleigh Boxer
Raleigh Grifter
Raleigh Maverick
Kona Fire Mountain (1990 and still have it - Well my parents do)

If nostalgia floats your boat, head over to http://www.retrobike.co.uk/ I'll warn you now, you might not come back.....

mudcow007

fatbabyjake wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

was the Raleigh grifter green? had a similar seat to the chopper?

i had one of them passed down through the family when i go it, it looked as if it had been in the war, i loved it though

what was the black bike with mag wheels an had a computer on the cross bar? i had one of them too

Was the black bike the Raleigh Vektar?

I remember a mate having a white one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rare-Raleigh-Vekt ... 53e7d5903d

ahh it was a street wolf

Street Wolf

i might try an buy one

t4tomo

I had a 2nd hand raleigh commando, in black with the big chopper style seat and colour coded changer 3 spead sturmey. I then saved up and bought a 10 speed raleigh racing bike (down tube shifters), which lasted me to uni only to be replaced by a 2nd hand BMX , which was more suited to bunny hopping on and off pavements and tearing down tow paths.

Butterd2

It was like mods and rockers where I grew up, you either went down the Chipper graduating to Chopper or the Boxer/Grifter routes. I was a Chipper/Chopper man(boy).

Though for nostalgia it has to by my Pace which I've owned for nearly 20 years now.

Kieran_Burns

Oi! Mudcow!

NO!


copy the following you pain in the bum.

Street Wolf

:P

Oh and I remember the day I got my 1st index linked gear shift. How amazing was that???? No more of this tentative moving of the lever while cycling like you're giving birth and having the bloody thing drop 2 or 3 gears and have you mashing to a standstill or embedding the chain between the smallest cog and the frame.

Luxury!

mudcow007

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Oi! Mudcow!

NO!


copy the following you pain in the bum.

Street Wolf

:P

Oh and I remember the day I got my 1st index linked gear shift. How amazing was that???? No more of this tentative moving of the lever while cycling like you're giving birth and having the bloody thing drop 2 or 3 gears and have you mashing to a standstill or embedding the chain between the smallest cog and the frame.

Luxury!

i like to throw hugely long url's in to keep people entertained

waynej

Best Christmas present I ever had was my red Grifter.

Ok it wasn't perfect. It was very slightly overweight and the gear linkage was make of break-as-soon-as-you-look-at-it-tanium so you either had to leave it in third or screw a spoke into the hub and bend it to keep it in first. But it looked great, rode great and could withstand huge punishment - brilliant bike.

wheezee

1971, and I was given a Steyr-Puch Something or Other (badge engineered Schwinn Stingray, as far as I can tell) for Christmas, instead of a Chopper. I think it was actually a better bike, having a bigger front wheel and derailleurs, but it wasn't what everyone else had, so I was a tiny bit disappointed.

Clank

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Oh and I remember the day I got my 1st index linked gear shift. How amazing was that???? No more of this tentative moving of the lever while cycling like you're giving birth and having the bloody thing drop 2 or 3 gears and have you mashing to a standstill or embedding the chain between the smallest cog and the frame.

Luxury!

True 'dat

When I changed from my Falcon racer to a Raleigh Maverick, I thought I'd hit the big time. Indexed shifting, boys, check me out, eh? It was, blunty, a triumph of style over substance! Shifting was still p**s poor.

Then I got my GT Borrego with Brahma bars and Suntour Microdrive - none of this shimano rubbish for me! I had 24 gears. Could barely count that bloody high!

SimonAH

Keiran, can the value of index linked shifters go up as well as down?

Kieran_Burns

SimonAH wrote:

Keiran, can the value of index linked shifters go up as well as down?

I find the market in such circumstances to be cyclical.

t4tomo

Surely the cyclical market is in twist grip gear shifters?