2023 New Raleigh Chopper: Iconic Bike Relaunched!

I do hope that the white strip on the saddle still says 'This bicycle is not designed to carry passengers' 🙂

I bought a Mk2 for about £25 in 1993, before they were cool, but it got stolen from outside a pub in Bath... These look pretty good, though I wonder what the upper inseam length is for them? And how long until the e-Chopper launches, eh?

I am really torn - a cracking bike from my childhood, but pretty sh*te at being a bike...

I think that there are as cool bikes out there while also more practical.

This is my mate Lou's fully restored original Chopper. Her dad bought it her for her birthday as a kid in the 70's and after she'd ridden it for years it was left to gather dust and slowly rust away in their shed over the decades.

Unbeknown to her, her dad had taken it upon himself to strip it down, completely restore it to essentially brand new condition and he wheeled this absolutely pristine beauty into the pub as her present on her 50th birthday. Theres a lot of love gone into this. 🙂

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Lovely story that.

I always fancied the girl next doors Chopper more than the girl herself 🤣

I did love my Grifter though 💪

BBC Breakfast this morning - a proper pisstake of a report: "boy's toys" and all that nonsense. Quite pathetic piece of journalism I thought

Anyone else remember them as being a bit of a death trap? I remember coming a cropper after building up some speed coming down a hill only for the front wheel to wobble wildly causing quite a spill.

Certainly an iconic bike though.

I lived/worked in Morocco for a few years - I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere driving past a few 'houses' when I saw a kid on an absolute mint Mk1 chopper. I tried buying it but my Berber/Arabic wasn't good enough. Very few bike shops and rarely saw any decent bikes let alone a random 40+ year old chopper in good condition.

Should rebrand them as gravel cruisers 😂

Yeh, just caught that bit about them going on about them just been for blokes. Ironic that two of us here mentioned girls having them back then.

I see they've kept the weight of the original as well - 40lbs. Chopper and Grifters (especially) were always "stout"

£950! They'll sell them all though, mainly to insufferable buffoons.

Weren't Grifters made out of leftover bits of railway bridges?

£950! They’ll sell them all though, mainly to insufferable buffoons.

I expect you'll find them all in Hoxton and Shoreditch 😉

Mine was a death-trap at speed (yep PJay, I remember that wobble), handled like a drunken cow but looked amazing. I loved my chopper. It was a Black Mk2 (T-bar shifter and wider handlebar), and had holographic decals. The chainguard even had a decal of an exhaust with flames coming out the back. God, I loved that bike. Couldn't get it to wheelie even though I think that's what it was primarily designed to do.

My mum must have got me it around 1978-9?
Still can't wheelie even now (me not my Mum, I bet she'd have been an awesome wheelier)

A grand seems a bit much though for something I would have a quick shot on, then shove to the back of the garage in terror. The memories though. Thanks for the article folks, it's genuinely put a smile on my face this morning.

C. xx

I do wish Raleigh would move on from their desperate "look, we were really cool on the 70's" throwback stuff and actually concentrate on making some half decent bikes.

They've properly lost their way. It's a microcosm of Britain encapsulated right there - look, we were cool and edgy and did some good stuff but now we're a bit lost and don't know where we stand in the world.

That said, their e-cargo bikes are very good. 🙂

I always fancied the girl next doors Chopper

S**** titter etc

Tomahawks were where the real front wheel wobble was at.

Ok, Lou’s Dad story has made my eyes wet.

No mention of the remake (with twist shifter?) from a few years back?

Stone me now. I've never got the love for the Chopper. Perhaps because I didn't own one? Rode mates ones and each time was happy to get back on my own bike!

Lou's dad story in the feels though 🙂

@crazy-legs

Very much this. I'm sure they do all right out of these nostalgia runs for people who want ornaments but I wonder if there is any realisation that because they produced a series of daft BSOs like the Chopper, vektar, etc. they contributed to the idea that bikes are kids toys and not serious grown up modes of transport?

I was never a big fan of the Chopper except they were good for comedy backies with wheelies thrown in.

I was a Grifter lad until the forks started to bend and the guy in the bike shop explained that I needed a BMX. The problem was the Grifter was brilliant at straight line distance jumps, the BMX was more agile but I could never get a chalk mark as far down the road 🙁

Perfect example of fashion over function. My cousin lent me their's BITD and I nearly couped the thing. I was used to a Puch Mini Sprint that actually went round corners. First corner on the Chopper and it washed out as there's hee haw weight on the tiny front wheel. Clearly designed for wheelies and not much else. Weighed a ton too. Dreadful things, best avoided.

Conversely I loved mine. Christmas present in 1971, Mk1 in blue. I went everywhere on it.

Kids of the 70s didn't give a shit about handling - wheelies and skids where the top priority!!!

Longest skid and longest wheelies gave you bragging rights.

We were rock 'ard back then!! 🙂

BBC Breakfast this morning – a proper pisstake of a report: “boy’s toys” and all that nonsense.

they cost a grand and for an adult are about as practical as a humvee is for the schoolrun

my mate had one & as jealous as I was my cheapo BMX was a better bike

didnt see the report but 'boys toys ' sounds about right

@chipps - The battery could take the form of the saddle. Nice wee heated seat. What could go wrong?

But what about the Chipper!?! Me and my brother had one of those before we got racers......

No mention of the remake (with twist shifter?) from a few years back?

That would be because they were shockingly bad. I remember grown men drooling over them in the bike shop I worked at when they announced them, we had a display one to gather rup pre-orders. Had a few who wanted them left in the box, unopened presumably as an investment. All I really remember of them though is that people were disappointed it had a twist shift rather than the ball-destroyer of the original and that the seat was a two-piece design. We had many issues with poor chrome flaking off and really poor quality paint on them too. There's a reason the re-release models don't command anywhere near the price of the original ones.

I had one back in the day and can confirm it was very easy to bend the handlebars when doing jumps of probably no more than 6inches I height in reality. Always wanted the grifter.

I blame having a Tomahawk for my inability to ride a bike until I was about eight...

As said, the Grifter was the true bike for budding off-roaders.

I never had any of the above. I had a Commando. For some reason I was always envious of my mate with his gloss black and hologram graphic grifter.

EDIT - just googled, don’t know why, the Grifter looks shite now, having said that the Commando looks more shite.

I had a Tomahawk and it was dreadful. Rode it for miles and miles though before it fell apart and I got a better bike (Dawes Jaguar).

I really wanted a Grifter or a Bomber. Didn't get either, which was probably a blessing.

Slightly shocked that my huge 29" Cannondale Trigger full susser is only 75% the weight of the Chopper. The nostalgia is going to wear off as soon as you try and pedal it up a hill, and will wash off completely when you try and control it coming back down.

Perhaps it should stay in the 1970s along with Shawaddywaddy, Spangles and white dog turds.

I do wish Raleigh would move on from their desperate “look, we were really cool on the 70’s” throwback stuff and actually concentrate on making some half decent bikes.

They make a rather good range of ebikes, which aren't too expensive and sell very well. You may have missed them because they aren't MTBs or gravel or whatever, just normal bikes. (That sounds judgemental - it's not meant to be, but I think that Raleigh are quietly doing a decent job at the moment.)

https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/electric-bikes/

Definitely interested in a Grifter relaunch!

Choppers were awful to ride, lovely to look at.

Its a no from me, pointless bike. As above though, they'll sell them all though....

Reverse mullit ..I cant see it taking off to be fair .

Soon to be seen adorning air cooled VW campers on hard shoulders and AA recovery trucks across the land!

I remember riding the Red Bull 24 hour around 2000 and one brave soul rode a sighting lap on a Chopper!

My Tomahawk was the cause of my first broken bone (in my left hand) as it wheelied up and I couldn't stop it.

I went from that to a bright orange Mk.1 Chopper and absolutely loved it. All my mates were envious and it kept me going for years, even had one of those cable speedos running off the front wheel. It was an absolute death trap, seeing how fast you were going while trying to steer it.
Then the handlebars snapped at the clamp (that was a little painful) and it got replaced with a Sun GT10XL 10 speed racer, in metallic blue. I went everywhere for years on that racer, from school to mates houses and onto the new experience of visiting girlfriends and it never put a foot wrong. Then some scumbag stole it 🙁

Didn't seem to matter at the time as I had discovered girls instead and they kept me occupied for a while. 🙂

Iconic, and dreadful. Surely no-one can want a Chopper in 2023 other than for nostalgia reasons? (Says the man with a ZX Spectrum on his desk.)

Perhaps it should stay in the 1970s along with Shawaddywaddy, Spangles and white dog turds.

I am seeing more white dog turds around in the last couple of years, it must be a nutrition thing so maybe the world is ready for a new Chopper

The first time I ever heard the word 'concussion' was in an A&E department shortly after my big brother OTB'd a Chopper.....summer of 1975 I think (a direct result of the speed wobble phenomenon mentioned above....). 🙂

I didn't much like them at the time as they were slow compared to my Puch Pathfinder.

I was into the gravel scene, well, there was a disused railway line nearby at any rate.

You may think you’re cool, but you’ll never be Sid James riding a Chopper, smoking a pipe cool

https://flic.kr/p/2oEbySZ

Totally agree with Fenboy, owned a chipper, then my dad bought me a purple Raleigh Hustler!

I had a black and gold Grifter, loved that bike but it was made from neutron stars! A couple of my mates had Choppers but my only reall memory of the bikes was one of them pulling a wheelie and about 5 yards into it the front wheel fell off and rolled away, he did ok though just kept on the back wheel until he got close to the front one and dropped off the back popped it back on and cycled home to nip it up.

For all you waxing lyrical about the Grifter did you never experience "slip gear"?
The cause of many a blunt force trauma to adolescent testicles. Usually occuring as a result of standing up to apply extra power to the pedals 😬

No mention of the Budgie? Smaller than a Chipper or Tomahawk.

The Raleigh Bomber has real Klunker vibes, perhaps not as iconic as the Grifter.
I remember urban myth from back in the day that there was a lad who was winning a lot of BMX tournaments on Grifter. Got a sponsor deal and asked them to make a BMX to the Grifter geo.

For all you waxing lyrical about the Grifter did you never experience “slip gear”?
The cause of many a blunt force trauma to adolescent testicles. Usually occuring as a result of standing up to apply extra power to the pedals

I certainly did Phil but at that age it can't have been worse than the 'trauma' I was inflicting on myself.

I seem to remember Raleigh USA used to advertise half decent bikes in Dirt Rag different outfit I guess ?
Im too old to have done the Chopper thing . Back in the mid 60s we were busy cannibalising 5 speed racing bikes with cow horns and the playing card on the seat stay to make the authentic braap sound like Badger Goss and Dave Bickers . I reckon we were 10 years ahead of them American fellers 😉

For all you waxing lyrical about the Grifter did you never experience “slip gear”?

On several painful occasions. My grifter was a ss in 2nd and 3rd for more of its life with me than it was geared. I put my SSing down to that early abuse! 🤔😬😁

I had a Raleigh Chipper. It was bright yellow. My first bike. Like the Chopper, it was a bloody death trap, My friend Douglas Forrester bent the bars doing a ghosty down a tiny embankment in the park next to my house. Not long after, I was riding in the same park and my saddle came away from the seatpost. It gradually turned into some kind of Dennis Hopper nightmare bike. I still rode it though.

It was replaced by a bright green Super Sport 5 speed racer that got stolen from my garage before I graduated to an Elswick Superstar BMX which I bloody loved.

Anyone who buys a Chopper has clearly never ridden one…….total crap.

<sighs> Happy days!

Cheers

Sanny

@pjay yep I still have a scar on my right elbow underside where I took it down to the bone sliding downhill while using my elbow as a brake until I wedged under a parked car.
Such great memories 😬

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chopper-bikes/zvcvt39

What a 60's/70's hall of fame there is in this thread: Sid James, Dave Bickers, Badger Goss, Dennis Hopper, ...

You may think you’re cool, but you’ll never be Sid James riding a Chopper, smoking a pipe cool

White loafers and no socks. Man was an absolute legend! *does Sid James laugh*

British bike manufacturer

Are they? Are just thought 'Raleigh' was a brand name owned by Accel (this week).

A new chopper you say? Hooray for nostalgia! Perfect for all those tubby 50-somethings with rose tinted memories of the 70s to trundle to the pub on twice over the summer then throw in the shed till these too become a collector's item.

Would rather Transition re-release their Klunker. Always regret not buying one when they came out.

I had an orange one. I remember getting chased by a gang in Linn park in Glasgow. Couldn’t get up the hill fast enough and was shoved off the bike. The wheel was buckled so had to push it home. I did love mine at the time but 18kg and calliper brakes, bikes have moved on so much, so I’m out my money will go on something more usable

I’d like to rent one for a day so I could say I’d had a go on one. Always wanted one in the 70s but no chance in our household.

@Devash - maybe with a smaller gear as I seem to remember the Klunker was a bit hard work to pedal.

My main recollection of the Transition Klunker was Lars Sternberg absolutely shredding one in the promo video, throwing huge air and high speeds at Whistler Bike Park and then loads of people buying them and bumbling along like old men (myself included when I borrowed one).

Pre-bmx we had a second hand purple Chopper that was used for razzing around the local woods and on jumps.

It ended its life at the hands of my cousin, when the handlebars broke at the stem.

Could there have been anyone that didn’t end up on the gear shifter at some point? Usually when the Sturmey Archer gears were between gear.

I have no desire to ride one again. Heavy, unsophisticated piece of junk that we thoroughly abused.

There were a few Choppers in my street. I had a Raleigh Wayfarer. Far better at being an actual bike. Stable. Handling good enough to stop with a skid sideways locking the rear wheel. Chrome steel rims so lethal braking in the wet. All steel components so not light. But a better bike than the Chopper. Good enough to jump a few feet and land safely.

https://function88.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/raleigh-wayfarer-a-late-introduction/

I was out for Christmas drinks in Beeston, Nottingham and when going to the loo, spotted a kind of Raleigh graveyard/museum behind a load of fencing. Here's the Tomahawk. My sister still has the scar on her chin (three stitches) from the time we speed wobbled and hit the deck, her as passenger, me as driver.

I don’t think the Chopper was ever really that cool at the time - just a retro marketing job. The Chipper and Tommahawk were awesome because you had them when you were 6 and 8 and then something that looked like an American motorcycle with playing cards in the rear wheels was not cool because we didn’t know what cool was but definitely what we wanted.

I was a kid in the 70s early 80s but by the time you were big enough to ride a chopper most kids I knew ( me included) wanted a ‘proper’ racing bike with drops and 5 gears. The really rich kids had ‘gasp’ 10 gears!

Funnily enough choppers were mainly for girls and kids that never actually cycled anywhere

like others have said if you wanted to dick about in the woods or do jumps on the rec over your mates all laying down like Evil Kenivel then a Grifter was where it was at.

Grifter ugghh. I remember that gear slip too, every time I had a go of one, also weighed like a tank to my puny frame.