1974 Raleigh Chopper MKII
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John, a good friend of mine decided, after seeing my two 1970’s original Raleigh Chopper MKII’s that I had purchaced in 2002 an 2003, to advertise for a one for himself. Having no time or skill to restore or even clean an old one up, like I had to with my two, he wanted to buy a fully restored bike, these can fetch £500 plus now.
After a week or so, he recieved a telephone call asking him if he wanted a Raleigh Chopper MKII, not to buy, but for free! How lucky is that? He spoke to the guy on the phone and he had said he had just bought a house and it was in the garden shed and just wanted rid of it, either that or he was just going to take it and dump it. Beacuse John didn’t want a “heap” as he called it, he said that if I went to pick it up, I could have it for spares. Not having seen it, we didn’t know what to expect.
This is what I picked up
Not the best as you may agree, but these little bikes gave me so much pleasure back it the 70’s that I have a soft spot for them. It was really rusty, the seat was split but has been repaired with electricians tape, the front forks were bent, but I thought, I’ll not break this for spares, I’ll restore it. So, back in 2003, I stripped it down, took the chainguard and matched the paint, before I paint stripped the frame and primed all the parts, then I thought, hang on, where will I put this bike when I have restored it? So, it’s been in a box since then. 😕
I must admit, I have one of my bikes in my room where I have my collection and computer and another friend of mine had been talking about my Lambretta which he said he would love to have that in his games room (three stories up) 😡 I said no to that, only because the scooter would be a nightmare to get up two flights of stairs, but……..I did have a Raleigh Chopper desperate for a home. 😀 So, he agree’d and I got to work.
The frame I had primed back in 2003 was a little dirty with standing in the garage, but beacuse I had used two pack primer, once cleaned off, all it needed was a quick rub down. No marks or rust.
[attachment=0:1f70jrse]frame.jpg[/attachment:1f70jrse]
I’m now in the process of fitting it up, and I think it will look quite nice, even though I had to paint the old mudguards because of the amount of rust they had on then when I originally got the bike.
Only new parts are:
Paint
Tyres
Transfers (which I bought back in 2003)
Nice job!!!
I used to have the even rarer racing handle bar version of the chopper when I was a lad, it was quite uncomfortable….
Thanks for the comment. I know the one your talking about, the “sprint” but have never seen one in real life so to speak. I have two other MKII Choppers as well, (See my signature) a red one and a purple one and possibly, fingers crossed, another in the pipeline. 😀 Not too sure what my wife will think, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it…. 😆
They all come about after I was going through some old photo’s and saw a picture of me when I as about 14 with my Raleigh Chopper MKI. I just had to bring my childhood back somehow. 🙂
Hi Gary
At least the bikes dont take up as much room as the Dormobile,I seem to remember having a Chipper and a Tomahawk,i preferred the one that had the wheels the same size,not sure which one that was,but it was faster and good for doing jumps and wheelies.
The kids bikes now dont seem to have the same style and character as the 70s ones.Malcolm
I always ended up with the odd version of the cool bikes, as mentioned above I had a Sprint (chopper with racing handle bars) I also had a bike, which was a BMX with front suspension, this was a great system and damped out all the bolts and jolts, however it was made from steel with a big spring, it looked like somone had bolted some scaffold onto the front forks and was not like the small pistons you get these days, it weighted a ton and was pretty much indestructable.
I just can’t remember the name….
I remember one of my friends had something called a “Commando”? it was a big hefty lump of a bike weighed a ton,maybe that was the one you had.
Regards@malcolm wrote:
Hi Gary
i preferred the one that had the wheels the same size,not sure which one that was,but it was faster and good for doing jumps and wheelies.
The kids bikes now dont seem to have the same style and character as the 70s ones.Malcolm
Your right about the bikes not taking up so much room, but when you have three, you start to run out of places to put them, and we all know they can’t be kept in the garage, like the wife thinks, now can they….. 😆 😆
Malcolm, could your bike have been the “Grifter” 😀
Yeah that definately rings a bell, you have a good memory Gary, i think that is your one Jonny ,one of my friends had one as well real chunky mountain bike tyres before mountain bikes were around.
I thought it was a grifter but cannot find any images on Google…I’m sure it was, it would be best described as a BMX crossed with a mountain bike with the most outragous front suspension system. It was also indesructable…I used to ride it head on into a wall just for fun…
Well remembered… 😀
hi Gary
you have done a good job restoring the bikes . they had not been invented when i was a lad and my kids did not have them as they had gone out of fashion
have got so say that you have you have had more response on hear than most of the things that have been put up on the forumI remember my mum and dad buying my brother and I bikes for xmas, probably ’69 or ’70 😀 I got the “orange” chopper and I’m sure my brother got a bike made by “Puch” It had similar handle bars,knobbly tyres,I’m sure it had gears on the crossbar too 😕 but I can’t recall what model it was.
Looked a bit like this pic
@daveglanfield wrote:
hi Gary
you have done a good job restoring the bikes .have got so say that you have you have had more response on hear than most of the things that have been put up on the forum
Thanks Dave, that’s what this site needs, plenty of interaction even if it’s talking about other things not connected with the old Dormobile. 😀
@jerryd wrote:
I remember my mum and dad buying my brother and I bikes for xmas, probably ’69 or ’70 😀 I got the “orange” chopper and I’m sure my brother got a bike made by “Puch” It had similar handle bars,knobbly tyres,I’m sure it
had gears on the crossbar too 😕 but I can’t recall what model it was.Looked a bit like this pic
Sorry Jerry, I can’t help you with the Puch. 😥 I also had another bike like the Raliegh Chopper, but all I can remember was, it was Black and called a Panther. Vert similar to the Chopper, but the actual make vacates my memory. 😕
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