Chopper

[Yellow Fang]

I saw a Raleigh Chopper in a bike shop window today. The thing that surprised me though was that it had the gear stick. I thought they'd decided it was against safe and healthy regs. It did have lots of girly tassles and a very girly saddle pouch, so maybe the gear stick is only banned on the boys' model.

 

[Headgardener]

Good grief, they still making those. They came out when I was eight or nine and I so wanted one but my parents didn't have the money then so I had to make do with an ordinary shaped one. Which was purchased from Halfords in Kidderminster when they were a good shop to go and buy bikes from.

 

[mickle]

Are you sure it was a new one? It might have been a resto.

 

[mondobongo]

As far as I know, none of the new Limited Edition (sic) ones had a central gearstick it was a gripshift a la Grifter. Most likely a retro model as Mickle suggests.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I don't know if it's a restoration. It's a very good one if it is. It was spotless. It also had a wind shield.

 

[Mr Pig]

I saw a new one in Halfords, maybe about a year ago, and it didn't have a gear lever. There were quite a few changes in fact.

I had a purple Mk II Chopper, it was a great bike :0) The gear lever was cool but a bit of a pest as you sometimes hit it with your knee. Lots of people snapped them off too.

Man, how did we get anywhere with just three gears! ;0)

 

[ChrisKH]

I had a blue version with silver trim. I loved that bike. I do recall, though, if you left the bike out in the rain, the saddle absorbed the water so you always had a wet bum. Had to ride it with a plastic bag over the saddle towards the end. I wonder what happened to it?