http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3400205.stm

the raleigh chopper is back. I never had one...... but I bet alanB and ChrisG did (possibly nicked from a littler kid )



own up all 'certain age' ex chopper owners


for really sad try

http://www.rcoc.co.uk/AoldNEWPAGE.htm

and you thought wafling about 7's was sad.....

[Edited on 15/1/04 by stephen_gusterson]

Nope not me.....

I do remember them though.

Over to Chris......

Deprived childhood. All my mates had Choppers, and their kid brothers had Chippers.
Didn't get Scalextrix either..................and haven't got the space for it now ,so I got myself a PS2 for Christmas.
Ian

This is a thread for 40 year olds and over!

... I would buy a chopper but I have to face facts I may be fit and forty and for certain.......... not wanting to be a sad looking forty year old geezer on a Chopper. I rode one a few years back and they are just as I remember them ten tons of top heavy steel that wobbles if you get to ten miles per hour down the steepest hill with a gale following.

250 would buy a nice seat or a set of gauges or a nice red storage case for tools................................mmmmmmmm


so I wont buy one............... and the value of the collectors one will dive.....and they will have to wait another thirty years before the price rises to 1500......could get a nice seven going on that

I never had one as a kid, I had a Raleigh Tomahawk which was the junior version.

I do have one now though, which I found in Greenwich market a few years ago. I don't think the guy knew what it was though - he was happy with £30 for it. It is currently waiting restoration, which will be after the car is built.

It is true though that they were crap to ride then and still is now - fashion eh?

Cheers

Nick

I was too old for the chopper,the penny farthing was the bike to have when I was a kid
Cheers,
Bob

Well I had a boneshaker. You had to push it with your feet and it didn't steer but you have to keep up with the times. There's an almost complete Raleigh Chopper upstairs as we speak, in the spare room. It only needs a gear change cover and tyres. I now have a Giant touring bike which has 48mph on the speedo as my top speed (downhill with a tailwind) , nostalgia's out of date I think.

yours, Pete.

[Edited on 16/1/04 by Peteff]

..whilst my cousin had a grifter. Ah happy days!

It was made of cast iron. I came last in the Luton wide scout bike race...

And another time, when i went round a corner at high speed, the larger rear wheel came out, leaving me to land on my forehead, wich was nice.

It'll explain a lot though (before anyone else gets in!)

I have had 2 choppers in my time, the first was an orange MK1 (longer seat and adjustable handlebars) the second was a speciel edition silver 5 speed job....
a few friends had them, i had junked the forks in favour of a pair from a racer that had 27" wheels, straightened them out and kept the little front wheel, extra long forks easyrider styleee

I always felt the chopper was very poor for wheelies - presumably partly due to the weight, but also the inherent design made it difficult to get the balance right for keeping the end up

Still always wanted one though and never had one.

quote:

---

And another time, when i went round a corner at high speed, the larger rear wheel came out,

---

I never got a bike for Christmas, all I got one year was an empty shoe box, my dad spent all Christmas and New Year tying to convince me that it was Action Man “Deserter”!!!

What really rubbed salt into the room was when my birthday came round and a got another empty shoe box, allegedly it was the 1st Action Man’s mate!!!


My parents were so poor, once my mum sent me next door with a button and I had to ask the neighbour to sew a shirt on to it!

I've always had a huge Chopper.

Actually I did and I almost disembowled myself when the front wheel caught in a drain and I caught the full force of the handle bars in the guts.

Not so much padding then either..........

Cheers

Chris

I always wanted a black one(bike of course!). Couldn't afford one and my next door neighbour had a new one for christmas,really pissed me off.
Believe it or not I built my own bike out of bits of other bikes,so 30 years later nothing has changed much except I built the bike a lot quicker than my Indy is taking.
Two months before I'm forty and yes,I remember the envy of wanting nothing else but a Raliegh Chopper ............
The good thing was my bike had 26" wheels and pissed all over my mates Chopper...........

Another sad old git!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!