The Classic Chopper to be Relaunched at Halfrauds

[alecstilleyedye]

 

[alecstilleyedye]

See now THAT is the definitive and most evolved Chopper. The things in the OP are just kludges, bitsas, part-bin pastiches of the worst kind.

cables look awful...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Seems there is a black and gold JPS Formula 1 inspired version in the offing.

 

[midlife]

There is a Dennis the Menace one as well !!!

http://www.mailorderbikes.com/m1b0s289p13723/RALEIGH_Chopper_Dennis_the_Menace

 

[Arjimlad]

@Fnaar I'll have to see if I can find a picture of my Chopper somewhere....

 

[sidevalve]

It isn't, and never was, a bicycle. It's a childs toy from the same stable as the Hoola Hoop and the Space Hopper. Producing crap like that led to the day when Raleigh ceased to be taken seriously as a cycle manufacturer. Could you see Colnago soiling their hands with that abomination?

The poll lacks a third option;

"God almighty, not again".

Perhaps, but few people learn to ride on expensive top line bikes. Take away the "child's toys" and you take away the groundworks of cycling - most people here seem to have fond memories. No kids riding bikes = very few adults and companies at the top end cease to be. Colnago may not wish to soil their hands with it but they should give thanks that it and all the other "kids toys" existed.

 

[surfdude]

i had one and they where bloody dangerous things to ride . i fell off mine a few times because they handled so bad . one time , and i think this is how they where named i nearly left my own chopper and veg wrapped around the gear lever after a fall . still would have one again as it was fun but would ride it very carefully now i know how important those bits are to me

 

[Retribution03]

They should just leave it and try to come up with a modern fun bike.though seeing a chopper takes me back to bike names like grifter boxer striker and budgie...I want my childhood back now lol

 

[Bollo]

I would have loved a chopper as a kid but my mum said they were dangerous and ridden by bad boys.

FFS Mum, that is EXACTLY why I wanted one

 

[cyberknight]

They should just leave it and try to come up with a modern fun bike.though seeing a chopper takes me back to bike names like grifter boxer striker and budgie...I want my childhood back now lol

I had a grifter , the only new bike i ever had as a kid that had the hub gear snapped in the hardest gear, no winder i ended up with thunder thighs !

 

[vernon]

This thread is a 'the older we get, the better things were' thread.

The original Raleigh Chopper, was ugly, heavy, slow and unstable. An opinion just as subjective as those in its favour.

 

[ianrauk]

The original Raleigh Chopper, was ugly, heavy, slow and unstable.

You are of course quite correct Vernon. But... they were bloody good fun.

 

[vernon]

You are of course quite correct Vernon. But... they were bloody good fun.

Although I never owned one I had one or two mishaps and loads of fun on my friends' Choppers. My outstanding memory was my pal who had one of the early ones where the handlebars could be rotated in the stem clamp. He lowered the bars towards him until they were nearly horizontal.

He didn't take into account the greatly increased turning circle or the inaccessibility of the brakes

Imagine a steep descent with a sharp left at the bottom....

 

[EltonFrog]

I really wanted one, even when at 13 I bought my own bike I wasn't allowed to buy a Chopper. I sort of still want one, but I know 'll never ride it.

 

[Berties]

First bike I ever fettled ,blue original chopper bought it from a junk shop for £5 ,the new ones are cheap copies of the past,I still love the old chopper bikes,but in this case old is best,I saw a red one in Southsea last week and just had to grin