We all had a Raleigh at some point, didn't we?

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:

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!

(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:

then a mustang

Then after getting various specialized and alpinestar bikes nicked, got a Raleigh Blue Ridge for Uni, which was also nicked.

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

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…).

Chicco

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

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

Replaced by this which I still have

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.

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:

This isn’t mine but it totally could have been, I guess they came with that bottle and cage or something.

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:

Then I got my brother’s hand-me-down (he’d had new):

I did my cycling proficiency on that

Then I got my first new bike, a Pacer:

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:

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.

by -crewlie-

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

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

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 )

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 Strika 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…

kayla1 – Member

I’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?