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This page was originally devoted to my spare time restoration project, the Raleigh Chopper. That 1970's bicycle that you just had to have if you were a child of that era. The Chopper was an icon. There was no other bicycle that quite came close. Several companies tried to imitate it, but the Chopper had them all licked. Several versions were available and many fine examples of these can be seen if you visit the links at the bottom of this page. I was aware of a 5 Speed version but on surfing round the net I have seen a few 10 speed models. Nice !!! Especially if you're the proud owner of one of those. Eventually the Chopper was ousted from the number one slot by the twist grip gear shifting Grifter (try saying that 3 times really fast!!) and then that too was dropping down the Christmas lists of children in favour of the awesome Raleigh Bomber, possibly a precursor to the now all too common mountain bike. Choppers can still sometimes be found at boot sales and second hand shops but generally are quite hard to find. I was lucky enough to acquire a suitable one to restore courtesy of Steve B who had one he wanted to get rid of. It had a lot of surface rust on it but generally the chrome-work was in fairly good nick. Just a mild rubbing down with some fine grade steel wool and chrome cleaner soon had the shiny bits sparkling again. A couple of new tyres purchased from a shop fitted to the wheels and now she's looking half decent again. I must admit that I thought shops selling tyres for what is technically a 30 year old bike would not exist. I have included a few images of my "resto job" It's the same colour as the one I had when I was a kid. Also Included are an image of yours truly riding Steve B's Black Prismatic Mk 2 that he picked up for £12 at a boot sale. And since we are talking about bikes, Hubbard Media Group would like to announce that several other cool bikes will feature on this site REAL soon. Grifters, Bombers, Tomahawks will all be present for your salivation. Also Steve B wants us to go for a jaunt at some point with several of us on Choppers. Obviously pics will be taken an deployed to this site. Also while we are talking about 70's bikes. What ever happened to the Raleigh Arena racing bike? Something I was asking my mates at work the other day. Glen H pipes up with "I've still got one of those" and true enough, the man who can get anything, lobs us these pics taken recently of himself and his still in good nick unrestored bike. Nice one Glenny !!!!! Also below at the far right is an ititial piccie of Julie Strong's Mk 1 Raleigh Grifter. Julie hails from Wiltshire and got in touch with us about some of her Nostalgic items she has acquired. She is contemplating giving the Grifter a full restoration job. Julie seems to have a knack for getting hold of great bikes and is acquiring a nice little collection. Even her younger brother is getting in on the act and has purchased a mint silver Strika. Check out the images by clicking on the thumbnails below. The Bikes Gallery
Here are some links to other Chopper sites that I have found or have been sent.
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