No pics from BITD sadly but my first bike was a Chipper. Served me well even when the forks were bent slightly backwards after a 'big off'
After that came a Raleigh that had been hand painted green (frame was a skip find and built up by my grandad). Not sure of the model but it had a double top tube like the clunkers of mtb history.
My first MTB (or ATB as it was called) was a light metallic blue Maverick 5. Loved that bike. As I've said before the steel rims and side pull brakes meant wet weather braking felt like an option box I'd forgotten to tick!
Not sure of the model but it had a double top tube like the clunkers of mtb history.
Boxer had a double down tube. Maybe one of those?
My first two bikes may have been Raleighs, but I don't remember. They were just generic bikes, really. At the age of 10 I got my first new bike (rather than a second hand bike or a hand me down from my brother), a Raleigh Bomber. And not just any Bomber either, but one of the 5 speed ones, such as this:
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Then a few years later it got replaced with a Raleigh Highlander, which was a model or two up the range from all the Mustangs/Mavericks/Lizards that my friends had - STi shifters and everything!
[img] 
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(Neither picture is mine and there is in fact something odd about that Highlander's shifters.)
Had a Chopper - Mk II or MK III I'm not sure which. Bought from a mate for a tenner when he got a "proper" 10-speed Peugeot "racer".
And a secondhand "Pursuit"
Had a grifter like this:
[img] https://goo.gl/Jf5Eof [/img]
then a mustang
[img] https://goo.gl/FPTn40 [/img]
Then after getting various specialized and alpinestar bikes nicked, got a Raleigh Blue Ridge for Uni, which was also nicked.
[img] https://goo.gl/QVpm6P [/img]
Boxer
Maverick - stubby stem, riser bars and slack head angle - just saying...
Activator - got to love Grandma - I was about 5'10" at the time and she bought me a 23" bike! I still hammered the thing into the ground.
I lusted for one of these
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and a mates Team Raleigh Banana - long before I liked road biking.
Budgie.
Mk1 Grifter in metallic red (second hand).
Mustang (the pinky purple jobbie).
Draken (looked like a Yukon but cheaper, replaced the Mustang after it got nicked).
Graduated to "proper" mountain bikes after that (GT Timberline Fs) but have since found my way back to Raleigh via a Marauder that was left behind by the people who we bought our house off and is now being (un)used as a trainer hack and also a Super Grifter that I bought for my son (honest...).
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Chicco
[img] http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=49226 [/img]
And an Areana
My first bike was a Raleigh Bullet, complete with stabilisers and a race number plate on the front in the shape of a target. I then progressed from than onto a White Burner with Black Mag wheels, I still love that one (no idea what happened to it though)
CaptainFlashheart - Member
Not sure of the model but it had a double top tube like the clunkers of mtb history.
Boxer had a double down tube. Maybe one of those?
You got me using some google-fu.
Found it! It was a Raleigh Rodeo.
Mine didn't have gears or the chopper style saddle and bars. Like I say it was a built up skip find so flat bars and 'way ahead of its time' singlespeed 😆
First bike was a magbuster. Awesome little bike
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Lacked a rear brake so skids were achieved by ramming your foot on the rear tyre.
Mag Burner, here's me looking my usual happy self
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Replaced by this which I still have
[IMG] 
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A burner with the fancy oval 'competition' tubing. I can't remember why oval tubing was a desirable thing, but it hurt more when you landed on it.
[img] 
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Just look at that !
weighed a tonne. wend downhill (on tarmac) great.
Tomahawk - gashed a hole in my leg with the inverted V scar still on my calf 40 years later.
Tour de France - 3 speed racer that struggled up the Devon cols
Avanti - 531 rigid MTB with original XT components 8)
Yak, sounds like an Aero Burner.
Could be. I can't remember. Maybe an aero 'night' burner as it was mostly black with a bit of red. Loved it. We had a dirt track 200m from my house - happy days 🙂
I had a blue Budgie and a green Strika. Saw a Budgie in a museum a while back and couln't believe how tiny it was 😆 Mine used to make the most incredible noise because of all the loose mudguards, like the crazy frog...
And then, a Raleigh Marauder Index. Yeah you heard me, Index. None of your 15 speed pov-spec friction shift for this bad boy, SIS all the way. Well, half the way, it was still friction on the front. And special ltd edition paint:
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This isn't mine but it totally could have been, I guess they came with that bottle and cage or something.
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Winner! First 'racer'. Happy times.
Ooh, I had a
Chipper (I properly loved this bike)
Tomahawk
Strika
boggo red and yellow Burner (stolen 🙁 )
Chrome burner with CWs! (also stolen 🙁 )
Ultra Burner, traded for a 1993 GT Outpost BITD
Jumpers, goalposts, etc...
First bike was something my Grandad found in a skip.
So was my second, but it was a Raleigh Chipper:
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Then I got my brother's hand-me-down (he'd had new):
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I did my cycling proficiency on that
Then I got my first new bike, a Pacer:
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Images all taken from Google, I doubt we've got any.
Then when I was 12 I progressed to my first mtb, a Diamndback Topanga, and have never gone back to Raleigh. Although I lusted after a Lizard for a while...
Haven't seen one on the thread so far - I give you the Raleigh Dirt Cross:
[img] 
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The slenderness of the bottom of the fork legs is amazing. Did these things used to bend or were they made out of Kryptonite?
ir_bandito - Member
First bike was something my Grandad found in a skip.
I'm so glad I'm not alone with that.
@CFH (and anyone else who is intetested) here is more on the Rodeo:
http://hawx.co.uk/chopper/homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/history/history10.html
I was never a member of the Raleigh club until a couple of months ago.
I grew up in a neighbourhood that had a communal Raleigh chopper though. We all had our own bikes, mine were all Halfords and Townsend rubbish, But this chopper just used to hang around. I guess it was someones older brothers or something. It was too small, rubbish as a bike but great fun.
OMG a Mk3 Cortina! Yesss!
RSW 16 proto bikepacker...hub gears, luggage, hub dynamo, fat tyres... Used to go miles (well it felt like it), on and off road. My racer that replaced it didn't half feel fast though.
[url= https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/33346674785_1fe2031ae1_m.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/33346674785_1fe2031ae1_m.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/SNJqCH ] by -crewlie-[/url]
Rubbish photo, but it's the best I could get.
Raleigh Module 3. Can't get a photo to work on my phone but amazingly there are some out there.
Can't figure out why 3 speed hub geared road bikes aren't still a thing!
One of my first bikes was a Grifter, in blue, with Kellogg's spoke reflectors and probably some holofoil stickers of some description. After a few other nondescript bikes and the theft of my awesome CB Vantage I had a Yukon, Reynolds tubing and 21 gears FTW. I later had a super burner, I'm pretty sure it ended up in the tip eventually. No one would have ever of thought they'd be collectible back then.
I also had a mk3 cortina a coup,e of years ago. Sold it last year to someone who can do a better job of restoring it than I
I still have one of these, because i cant be arsed advertising it, it sits in the garage mostly, that said i had a play on it 3 days back, hanging on the wall for 3 year and the obly issue was sticky sturmey archer hub
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No-one had Vektar(gh!)!? What the heck was a 'Zytel console' ? Early 80s landfills must've resembled a Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers/Knight-Rider battle-scene mashup
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OMG a Mk3 Cortina! Yesss!
That Cortina got me a ride in a Police Car when I was 8
One night it got nicked and dumped in Salford, police found it, came and took Mum and Me up to go and collect it. Mum was upset so a Bobby drove it back and we got a lift back in the Police car. I'm sure the Police car was a Escort Xr3i
I remember the car having a new ignition barrel then mum scrubbed it with bleach as she felt it was dirty after being nicked.
Hand-me-down Tomahawk, followed by a Grifter XL.
Bristled with envy at cousins who had Choppers and Strikas.
Roughly 40 years ago this year I learnt to ride on a Raleigh Dart. My brother had a Jeep.
Another one whose parents were so out of touch they thought a teenager in the 80s would be happy on a shopper bike. Still managed to go mountain biking on it though 🙂
I've just found two bricks and a plank of wood in the bushes. I'm making a jump in the back street...
I've just found two bricks and a plank of wood in the bushes. I'm making a jump in the back street...
The top tube of a Strika is not a plum-forgiving landing zone. Amazed I had children, really.
Three Important Raleighs
1. Chopper ( I had a Tomahawk first but the Chopper was the Important one )
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2. Raleigh Montana light Blue my First Mountain bike, bought by my wife. Got stolen after a few months 🙁 but got me started in Mountain biking never looked back.
3. Raleigh (name unknow ) that I bought for my Dad, we had a great ride together because of this bike about a year before he died.
and I have always thought the same.......
The top tube of a [s]Strika [/s] Chopper is not a plum-forgiving landing zone. Amazed I had children, really.
VEKTAR, yes! Didn't they do a white one too? Always wanted one but had a red burner instead.
Raleigh Strika was my first proper bike. I'll also be forever grateful to this bike (not my photo) for getting me into biking and me going from a 17 stone unhealthy bugger to the (relatively) svelte 12 1/2 stone cyclist I am now. Still in the garage - planning to give it to a charity when I get round to it - need the space...
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kayla1 - MemberI've just found two bricks and a plank of wood in the bushes. I'm making a jump in the back street...
Was it by the hedge pron and white dog poo?
RSW (a hand me down) ..had my first bike related injury on this, 3 stitches above my eye.
Tomahawk - came off on this giving my mate a chuckie and hitting a bump in the road!
Grifter XL - Broke a girls wrist as she was holding onto the saddle to stop me riding off, so had to get physical - Tour De Kinver Winning machine! 😉
... I have a lovely purple Raleigh 92-93 Dyna-Tech racer that is weeks away from its first ride in anger..pics will follow.
I never had these posh kid's bikes. When I first started commuting I bought a green, steel framed Raleigh road bike 2nd hand from the Freeads. Was great, until I snapped the chainstay pulling away from traffic lights in Portsmouth city centre. Still remember that weird "my bike's broken" feeling. Halfords warranteed it though, cos it had a lifetime guarantee on the frame! The replacement was a horrible, yellow, aluminium beast which I ebayed without using.
Red Chipper
Sliver Striker with a 7 number plate on the handle bars ... guess which bday I got that for ?
and a Night Burner
But I remember the little kid next door had a Budgie that was ace for wheelies... and the older lads had Grifters most of which had the front of the foam seat snapped off.
My sister learned to ride on one of these:
[img] 
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Then it got passed down to me. I broke the frame clean in two trying to wheelie it.
I then got one of these:
[img] 
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Anybody else heard this "Poem"
Ride a Raleigh
Ride a Wreck
Ride a Raleigh
Break your neck
?????
Yay, a Raleigh thread! I had the same MTB Team as [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/we-all-had-a-raleigh-at-some-point-didnt-we/page/3?replies=126#post-8338203 ]simmy[/url], it was my first full-sized bike, and I rode it round the Peak for a couple of years before I managed to save up for a Breezer Storm. It carried me all over the local hills, and then when we got bored and wanted to go further, over Holme Moss and all the way to Edale, down Jacob's Ladder and The Beast and back via Cut Gate (although I think I did have to carry it for some of that lot when my chain broke). The 28x28 bottom gear got me fit surprisingly fast. The tyres were bloody dreadful, and the brakes were plastic, it weighed a ton and I learned all sorts of useful mechanical stuff by taking it apart and putting it back together. I definitely got my money's worth out of it, but somehow still managed to sell it on for a whole £75 quid to finance the last bit of the Breezer.
A few years later I won a trip round the Raleigh factory through school, that was fascinating, although in retrospect the whole place had a bit of an air of a company that didn't really know what it was doing anymore. Massive site, huge amount of infrastructure and skill, but stuck two or three decades behind where it really needed to be to compete with the far east. They were tinkering with titanium and bonded frames and that, but the main volume production was clearly just dying out underneath them. Bit of a shame really.
I had 2:
First was a corsa, lovely 531 frame and full 105.
[img] http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=128286 [/img]
Which I bought with money earned selling logs by the roadside that I'd split by my own 14 year old hands. Did a 300 mile trip round Wales on it aged 16 with a bar bag, napsack and one water bottle. Stayed in Youth hostels, wore same jeans all week. Stank when I got back. It got pinched in the first year at uni and the insurance money bought this:
[img] http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=328433 [/img]
Which I didn't like as much but kept a few years. Biopace and awful hideous graphics. That saddle!
It would have been new in 1989 and I snapped the frame in about 1993 after too many kerbs were popped off. Got a new frame on warranty and kept it but barely rode it after I bought my first mtb in 1994. It got given to a neighbour about 10 years ago who was after something to ride to work on. He made the mistake of taking it to a bike shop for a service and was told it wasn't worth servicing so he skipped it. I'd have had it back off him if he'd offered. Pillock.
Images off retrobike which just makes me wish I'd kept the second one even more.
Still got mine. 1983 531c Competion but it's Burner blue. I went to Bangor Normal College that year and our head of department, John Brailsford (Daves dad) had some long standing arrangement with what ever the special products dept was called then. Every year the Outdoor ed students had the chance to buy a nice Raleigh. None of them were exactly the same although all the same colour but different each year. Mine was Campag equiped with Mavic GP4's and Clement tubs.
SS Stu, are you sure you didn't live in the FoD as a a kid? I had a Grifter with moped forks. Mine were NSU Quickly ones though. Leading link jobbies.
A 25" Raleigh Medale 10 speed when I was a kid, subsequently hammerited and cowhorned for student use.
Bought one of those Raleigh Lizards in 1990 to ride to the local bouldering crags, and realised I was enjoying riding the rough trails between the crags more than the climbing...so when it got nicked I put the insurance money towards a Raleigh Monsoon, 33lb of rigid steel fun. Not sure where it stood in the 'M' named series of early 90s Raleigh mountain bikes, but it had 21 speed Suntour Accushi(f)t gearing and cost me a staggering £350. I agonised over spending that much on a mere bicycle for a couple of weeks but, once bought, I loaded it onto a train and rode it over High Street in winter from Staveley to Pooley Bridge - and never looked back.
The TV programme looks interesting, thanks for the heads up.
I misremembered.
It was a strada not a delta
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Also had a fiat strada at the same time. That had less metal in it than the bike.
First "proper" bike (not a hand me down) was a red Chopper. I loved the warning on the seat that said "this cycle is only designed to carry one person"
First MTB was a Raleigh Montage
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raleigh+montage&oq=raleigh+mont&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.6026j0j4&client=tablet-android-lenovo&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=bkqjSkdRW7XQ5M:
Just remembered I have this pic of the day I got my Strika, complete with horn! Particularly impressed by the spaghetti legs in school shorts even though it was summer holidays at my granny's house in Devon. Check out the sandals too![img] 
?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=2640bec83f0dfcee41b11eab4dae20d9&oe=5928622B[/img]
I wish I could find a picture online of my Monsoon but it seems to have been erased from history, a casualty of the pre-digital era. It was a kind of bronze colour, 501 tubes, decked out with cut-up blue gaffer taped Karrimat in a Jeremy Ashcroft stylee. Took me all over the Lakes, Dales, Wales and my first E2E. I 'upgraded' to a Clockwork when it broke, but in fact it rode much better than the Orange.
I had a raleigh sirocco 501 and rode all over North Wales with it.
It's still at my parents place.
[img] 
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Not my bike but exactly like this. Is it worth anything now?
i had quite a few when i was little...the raleigh tomahawk was my favourite...the crappy activator was the worst by a country mile!!
Not my bike but exactly like this. Is it worth anything now?
See my recently acquired Sirocco further up the thread. Not worth a great amount in cash (maybe 100-200 depending on condition/spec), I think they were about 5th down the Raleigh roadie ladder..
But - nice 501 butted frames and I really like the elegantly-shaped sculpted fork crowns. Looking forward to getting mine restored on a shoestring. Who knows what it will be equipped with. Golden Arrow, 600,DX? See what I can find. Intend it to be my 'just for cycling' bike. Quite excited about it 🙂
Found this vid last night:
Hope you've grown into that head, mattbee 😆
I had a Raleigh Kellogg's Pro Tour. Loved it yet hated it at the same time. Road it loads but I always wanted an atb which were deemed a fad and therefore would be a waste of money. Well they got the last bit right. 😆
@mattbee has posted a photo of a Strika, I mentioned having had one earlier in the thread, but any photos I'd seen weren't the same till now, and there's no photo of me on it from 30 yrs ago. Blimey that brings back some memories. I remember it being really heavy compared to my brothers Boxxer, so was jealous of it and my cousins far too big Grifter, which was really fast cos it was far too big.
When I grew out of it I had a "you'll grow into it" Dawes Kickback in white and pink, before then getting a Raleigh Yukon.
Thanks for the photo, it brought back some memories.
Avdave2, I swear that's the one i had too...
[img] [/img]
I can't remember if it was a Raleigh or what, but I just remember having a bike that colour and distinctly remember that curved top tube. 🙂
Must have been the Chicco.
Loved that bike.
Having read this thread it is a real shame that Raleigh haven't done "a Boardman". Such an evocative brand from my past but I can't see me or my kids owning another.
Tomohawk
Grifter
Super Burner
Aero Pro Burner
Took full advantage of the 15 year warranty on the Aero Pro - 3 Frames and 5 sets of forks. Never an issue getting replacements. A lesson some companies could learn from.
A burner with the fancy oval 'competition' tubingCaptainFlashheart - MemberYak, sounds like an Aero Burner.
The later burners had oval 'competition' tubing (Night Burner, 2nd gen super burners etc) with but it was just regular steel that was slightly ovalised - the competition bit was the selling point. Aero Pro was Tange 4130, also ovalised (Aero) but not called competition tubing. It was Raleighs homage to the Skyway TA (Totally Aerodynamic) tubing. On my second Aero Pro frame i stripped the decals and replaced them with Skyway TA stickers - complete with with white Mags. It looked very similar to the untrained eye (might have a pic somewhere). The TA tubing was actually teardrop shaped - supposedly more aerodynamic - hence the name for both frames. Both were race bikes after all.
Yes, i was a bmx nerd as a kid 😀
[URL= http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m7/pjspooner/20131109_134248_zps189f75ee.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m7/pjspooner/20131109_134248_zps189f75ee.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
I have this as a long term loaner hanging up in my garage. Nice bike, with reynolds tubing and a fair turn of speed. It's just about to be attached full time to a turbo trainer
Really glad i read this post. For ages now i have been trying to remember the name of the first two wheeled bike i had - as soon as i read the name i remembered instantly. It was a STRIKER, loved that bike, must of been second hand as i still remember the silver brush streaks it was covered in, back pedal brake meant i was always looking for hills (and new tyres). Even passed my cycling proficiency test on it. This was the bike that started my love affair with two wheels, happy days and memories. Thanks to all who reminded me. First 'mountain bike' was a raleigh discovery about '94ish
Tomahawk
Chopper
Grifter
Roadrunner (seriously Dad... WTF)
Original red burner
Scirocco road bike
Twenty stowaway
Loved them all. I recall the advert for the Burner so clearly - the description of the tyres;
Yellow Cheng Shin chevrons with wide front & narrow rear for "bear hug grip on the berms". They were utterly without grip. Loved them anyway..!
Harry_the_Spider - MemberHaving read this thread it is a real shame that Raleigh haven't done "a Boardman". Such an evocative brand from my past but I can't see me or my kids owning another.
I quite like that my #enduro race bike has Raleigh carbon dh bars, though 😆
(wasn't impressed that they don't sell rebuild kits for their otherwise rather nice FTW pedals though, too expensive to be disposable- RSP have some really good stuff but they don't seem quite up for supporting it)
Grifter
Had many Raleigh, including the Jeep, a joop zoetemelk, which I have just managed to replace. Got a criterium tricross frame, which is slowly being built up. Had another one with aero frame, but the name eludes me. But my fave was the Raleigh 20 bought like this https://m.pinkbike.com/photo/928466/
And after a few upgrades, It looked like this
https://m.pinkbike.com/photo/1091618/
I was bullied by a notorious local kid that rode a Grifter..... he had those old school grey coloured Ever Ready lights front and back.
More to the point he had 2 fitted at the front and 2 at the rear.
At my tender age it was like a 2 wheeled Mad Max vehicle with fittingly disturbed rider also.
I sometimes wonder what prison the guy is now locked up in.....
I was riding a kalkhoff "racer" at the time.... so although I was doomed to be unfashionable I could atleast out run the little s*it! lol
Was it a kalkhoff camaro?
CharlieMungus - Member
Was it a kalkhoff camaro?
And so my nemesis returns.....
Though you need to know that I am no longer that frightened little boy and your quad lighted Grifter no longer haunts my nightmares.
(No, don't think it was a Camaro. 😀 )
Shuddup, Poopscoop! It was a camaro! Camaro-boy!
CharlieMungus - Member
Shuddup, Poopscoop! It was a camaro! Camaro-boy!
Damn it!
I'll never get past that bike, never be allowed to move on! 😀
I had a deeply unfashionable Raleigh Jeep when all the cool kids were on their Grifters.
My first racer was a circa 1982 Carlton Criterium in a fetching light green metallic. OK didn't have Raleigh branding but technically a Raleigh by then.
This isn't mine, but I had one the same. Used to live on a hill and the pavement always had huuuuuuuuuge streaks of blue rubber on it 😉
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Bit of a bump as the programme is on the tellybox tonight UK time.
So far, absolutely fascinating.
Well that was fabulous.
What a lovely programme.
My favourite moment as the ten year old girl riding to the coast with her father.
My favourite moment as the ten year old girl riding to the coast with her father.
Absolutely! My 14 year old daughter moans about riding to the end of the driveway. 🙄
My first bike was a Raleigh RSW 11, which was followed by a Raleigh StreetWolf. I'va actually just bought a StreetWolf off eBay, which will slowly be cleaned and hopefully be brought back to it's former glory, no sign of an RSW 11 though.
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(images stolen from Google)