[Closed] The Chopper is back, and it’s never been so cool

still not as cool as the original though [img] [/img] 8)

That is gash. Should make the old one s worth more.

Get one of these nowadays. Get bullied. Sell bike to man 3 times your age.

That's a bloody heresy 😯

I had one when I was a kid, it looked cool but it was a deathtrap and shit, truly shit!!
[shudders at the memory]

Solely responsible for putting a generation of British kids off cycling. Are the car lobby behind its return?

I had one when I was a kid, it looked cool but it was a deathtrap and shit, truly shit!!

Are you talking about the original - if so go and wash your mouth out!

Original Choppers where the most awesome bike made at the time - how many other bikes could carry 4 kids in complete safety*!?

(*the safe bit may not be true!)

gears that work, brakes that work, inability to carry a mate down the Rec., bell - not a Chopper

have to agree - choppers were AWFUL bikes back then and even awfuller now.

The 1970s British classic has been brought back by popular demand from nostalgic parents, say Halfords.

There are going to be a few disappointed kids come birthday/Christmas time I think!

They were shit back in the day and I can but assume they'll still be shit now. Hateful things.

Page me when they resurrect the Grifter.

They are superb bikes if you want to learn how to manual, however less than 1% of that manualling ability will turn out to be transferable to any other bike.

Whats the springs for on the back rest? I see how they worked on the original, but not on the new one...

coolness

I coveted a Chopper so much when I was 10, got bought a Moulton Mini, on the way back from the shop a bunch of kids started taking the piss so I answered them back and got punched in the face 😆 wouldnt of happened if I was on a Chopper.

I always thought they were quite big but see one now and they are tiny.

I had one when I was a kid, it looked cool but it was a deathtrap and shit, truly shit!!

Tru dat

Those new models should be sold with some rose tinted eyewear 😉

I thought these 'new' choppers had been around for a few years now?
If you think the Chopper was awful, I raise you the Commando!

Chopper Sprint 😯 😯 😯

wouldnt of happened if I was on a Chopper.

Yes it would.

At least you could have taken some pleasure ,watching one of them try to steal it and become another 'bollix meets gear change' victim 🙂

Hey! I had a comamando - they were better than the chopper at least dynamically they actually worked as a bike.

Crap bikes. Don't get me wrong, full of nostalgia for me as much as most but a crap design bikes and how many men are childless now because of the gear lever? 🙂 (will no one think of the children)?

Besides, unless it has the backie seat, it's not a chopper.

I had a blue mk1a bit wheelie prone, and it had the round gear shift knob which you could unscrew to leave a nasty spike just where you didn't want one 😯 As a proper bike it was rubbish, but for a kid to just ride around on being a kid it was great, loved mine.

Chopper Sprint

What function do the springs on the fake back rest serve?

become another 'bollix meets gear change' victim

Ah the back rest, I remember my mate pushing me along using the back rest, the front wheel got stuck in a hole, the bike stopped dead and he smashed four of his front teeth out...

Page me when they resurrect the Grifter.

I still have the scar from my chopper. 1cm over and it would have been a cockendictomy.

Years later my parents told me they were 'quizzed' by social services after taking me to A&E 😯

Full coverage black mudguards with great thick stays = Fail! 😛

Page me when they resurrect the Grifter.

I soooo wanted a Grifter..

I had a Grifter - it was silver with blue tyres.
It weighed about as much as the forth road bridge, but was dead cool.

It was replaced by a Silverfox BMX..

Did that guy make it up mount vontoux (spelling?) on one for charity?

I had a Grifter - it was silver with blue tyres.

That was a Super Grifter.

You bastard.

(-:

Thus,

[img] [/img]

Proper bike.

Should be some spare depleted uranium from decommissioning of the nuclear deterrent? That'll help with Grifter authenticity.

Needs the foam padded handlebar too, but not padded on the bit your knees smash against when you find the Sturmey Archer slip gear when hacking it round the park.

New Chopper has had far too much HSE risk assessment input.

My right leg is one of the reasons for the change in saddle design, The caps on the bolts would come loose and fall off. In a "race" with my friend I fell off and the protruding bolt end tore out the tendons in my calf. Still have superb inverted V scar.

The original was far cooler.

I was too young for a chopper.... Had it's younger brother: the mighty BUDGIE.

It was awesome. Although having only a front brake was a bit of a hazard.

[img] [/img]

I had a commando too - this also weight the equivalent of said road bridge, but was nowhere near as cool as a chopper.
I never got asked by anyone for a go on my commando, whereas i couldn't wait for a ride on a chopper/grifter/bomber/bmx, anything really.
My striker before the commando was cool though - mini grifter as I recall.
Did all kids bikes back then weight as much as cars?

I had a Chipper before a Chopper...

[img] [/img]

...and those who say Choppers were shite - you obviously weren't there man, YOU WEREN'T THERE!

I had the other baby Chopper, the Chipper.

[img] [/img]

My dad used the paintshop at his work to strip it, respray it metallic sky blue and add flame graphics - cheesy, but it was the dogs at the time.

Always still wanted to get a ride on my mate's Grifter though.

I really, really, really wanted a chopper. Came downstairs on Christmas morning and was presented with a Chipper instead. It was Orange.

[img] [/img]

My cousin (a "large boned" lass) wrecked it. I'd only had it a month 🙁

I had the tomahawk.
[img] [/img]
Before the grifter XL

I managed to pull a proper wheelie on a Grifter once, and get one complete pedal turn in. Got a round of applause for that! (all my mates had Mongoose and Diamondback BMXes by then)

I swear the crack in the pavement is still there from when the wheel landed again.

We set up a massive ramp in the woods once too. Big run in, big air, and it'd set off all the local quake detectors on landing. Totally bent the fork steerer too, and the head tube was oval.

friend* had a chopper though. Still had stabilisers on both sides when he was 9-10 years old. Was a right laugh playing "follow the leader"... ride thru a puddle on a Grifter, and then he'd get stranded, peddalling away getting nowhere. (* think our version of roland browning)

I had a purple chopper with the t bar .....

Cool at the time but definitely crap ....The thing was so big an weighed a ton course putting the gearshift where you had to take your hand off the slightly dodgy steering to change it pure design triumph..

Reminds me of the mk4 cortinas and empty streets.

I rember the grifter had a grip shift but not the pose value of a chopper

Reminds me of the mk4 cortinas and empty streets.

Mk3 surely, and strangely when ever ii see a chopper I am reminded of the red hand gang, no idea why.

I had a red Chopper, Mk II or III I think. Still got it in the back of the garage. Awesome bike, but slightly on the heavy side...

I had a Tomahawk. It was ace and crap at the same time. Could never keep up with the less cool but faster kids on their Raleigh Chicos.

[img] [/img]

Page me when they resurrect the Grifter.

Now you're talking. Mine was in electric blue, and I upgraded it with chequered flag stickers to make it go faster. I don't think the gear hub worked in the entire time I had it.

Blue Tomahawk, first bike. it had the full chopper style seat too. I remember the white leatherette band around the seat saying 'this seat is not designed for passengers' or somesuch. Was so excited when I saw it's metallic blue shiny chromeguarded goodness on the morning of my birthday that I half-fainted and comsequently had a delirious episode. Never did before or since. Probably has a lot to do with this ongoing facination/obsession with bicycling. I rode that thing like a bastard around and around for endless hours for two years solid until replaced by a Puch 3 speed boys 'racer' that was made from lead gas pipes or somesuch. Even that didn't stop me, obviously...

Grifter pics bringing back memories of the shameless lust I had for one of those. Never realised, and then mtbs came along.

dudeofdoom - Member
I rember the grifter had a grip shift but not the pose value of a chopper

chopper 5?

[img] [/img]

or a bomber

[img] [/img]

or a grifter xl

[img] [/img]

Looking back, the Chopper truly was gash.

However, back in 1979 it was bloody cool, especially when one of the older kids gave you a lift on the back of one. And despite the many ergonomic triumphs of the new model, it isn't a Chopper without the gearlever mounted on the frame and a proper banana seat.

Reminds me of the mk4 cortinas and empty streets.
Mk3 surely, and strangely when ever ii see a chopper I am reminded of the red hand gang, no idea why.

Dunno I rate cortinas as highly as choppers tbh but you may be right 🙂

I rember it was a time before StarWars though 🙂 which I do like

What is really frightening is that Raleigh actually had a product that every kid lusted for ....

Is there such a thing now ?

Pfffft,
Mk1 Choppers had straight seat stays and a round gearknob.
And they were orange.

I had a grifter - got it the same Xmas everyone else got a BMX

It honestly still hurts - bike ownership is all down to timing I guess

[img] [/img]

I had one of these bad boys, a raliegh Jeep. Came with contrast mudguards and chain guard in candy apple red, but they were soon 'lost'

Actually an awesome woods fun bike.

" really, really, really wanted a chopper. Came downstairs on Christmas morning and was presented with a Chipper instead."
Only a few minutes ago my wife told me that this abortion that pretends to be a Chopper was about. She then told me that a woman at work has ordered one 🙄 because she pleaded for one as a kid. Xmas morning she got a Raleigh Shopper! Don't you just feel for that kid?

Reminds me of the mk4 cortinas and empty streets.
Mk3 surely, and strangely when ever ii see a chopper I am reminded of the red hand gang, no idea why.

I think one of the kids rode a chopped out bike with ape hangers in the intro to the programme.

Bombers were surprisingly good off-road way back when. My mate had one fitted with a wider low-rise bar and it was very stable and cornered sweeping bends brilliantly. Not too nimble mind and didn't like uphill much!

It's got to have the gear lever on the top tube so that you catch it with your knee on a particularly steep climb and knock it into 3rd

Xmas morning she got a Raleigh Shopper! Don't you just feel for that kid?

Ouch!! 😥

I did a wheelie on my chopper in 1982. The front wheel fell off mid wheelie and I smashed my front teeth. I got a bmx as a birthday present soon after...

The new one is £250!! How much is an original one?

My first bike (when I was eighteen!) was a Raleigh Bomber that someone gave me in bits.

I learn't a lot about bike mechanincs and the value of a friendly LBS while putting it all back together.

I wish I had it now. It would be perfect for Swinley Forest.

Did that guy make it up mount vontoux (spelling?) on one for charity?

[url= http://www.autisminitiatives.org/news-events/?ID=239 ]I think you might mean this guy.[/url]

I had a Tomahawk, over the bars and stitches in my forehead a couple of times. Moved onto a Grifter and then a Burner. The Grifter was a pig to wheelie and jump. A mate had a Bomber with cow horn bars, was considered cool back then.

I went from a Tomahawk to a Strika. I miss the latter still

I once done a wheelie on a friends strika and the front wheel fell off,
I didn't end well .

Strika and pedal back break was the dogs bollocks 20 foot long skids + 😀

I had old school Chopper and loved it but eventually got rid of it and got a brand new Mongoose BMX for Christmas 8)