THE RETURN OF THE CHOPPER!
The must-have teen bike of the 70s still commands handsome prices on the second-hand market. Now Raleigh is relaunching its most famous model. JAMES MURRAY tries one for size
IT WAS as distinctive as the Penny Farthing and just as groundbreaking. The Raleigh Chopper bicycle, with its Harley-Davidson-style handlebars, high-back saddle and oversized chunky back wheel, became a symbol of youth culture in the 1970s. Other design features included the frame-mounted three-speed gear shifter, the raised rear mudguard and the motorcycle-style kickstand. Altogether, it made for the coolest pair of wheels in town.
The hugely popular Mk1 model was first introduced in 1969 and then superseded by the Mk2 in 1973 which was then manufactured up until 1985 when BMXs and cheaper foreign-made bikes started flooding the UK market. Today marks a new chapter in the Chopper story, however, as Raleigh officially relaunches the bike in a limited-edition model, based on the Mk2 but with a few minor design modifications.
“The Chopper was the most iconic bike that we ever made,” says Raleigh managing director Lee Kidger. “Potentially, it is the most iconic bike that has ever been made in the cycling industry. We have so many brand fans and we wanted to give something back to them.”
On eBay, original Choppers from the 1970s now sell for up to £1,000 each, having achieved a sort of cult status. The new models are on sale for £950 via the Raleigh website or at the company’s Nottingham store, Experience Raleigh. They are manufactured in Raleigh’s factories abroad.
The bike is already very popular among celebrities.
Apparently David Beckham has one, while former England goalkeeper David James owns an entire collection of them.
Lady Gaga has been spotted on one and, back in the 1990s, Britpop group Supergrass helped generate a Chopper revival after riding the bikes in the free-wheeling video for their breakout single Alright.
Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur, is also a fan, as is TV presenter Amanda Holden who has posted pictures on Instagram of her astride one.
In fact, Choppers crop up all over social media, their popularity fuelled by a deepseated yearning for nostalgia and by the bike’s distinctive shape.
“Everybody has got a story about a Raleigh Chopper, whether they once owned one or because they enjoyed riding one belonging to a friend,” says Kidger. “Just hearing those stories is super cool. That is what we love about it.”
Raleigh claims 1.5 million Choppers were sold in all, with demand peaking between 1972 and 1979. But will today’s youngsters show the same interest, especially now that electric bicycles are so popular?
Kidger believes nostalgia will drive sales, but he hopes younger consumers will also be keen. “They’ll appeal to people who owned the bikes in the 70s, along with people who remember them,” he says. “People still remember the handlebars, the gear shifter and the one-piece saddle.
“We also think they will reinvigorate some of the more youthful audience. Obviously, it is not a cheap bike but we are hoping to engage with people who didn’t know what the Chopper was back in the day.
“I’ve ridden a couple of prototypes. It’s a fun bike to jump on and ride.”
THE brains behind the original Raleigh Chopper was Austria-born British industrial designer Tom Karen, who died in December last year. Raleigh had commissioned him to come up with a groundbreaking design which would excite youngsters, and he certainly fulfilled that brief. The bicycle manufacturer first consulted him in 1966 when he was running a company called Ogle Design, based in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. He admitted he was partly inspired by Harley-Davidson motorbikes and a bicycle made by US manufacturer Schwinn, called the Sting-Ray.
“This was a project for which the big back wheel could be not just a flourish but the beginning of a conceptual core around which everything else could be built,” Karen wrote in his autobiography.
He established the unforgettable design in many sketches which show the neat straight lines of the chunky frame, the signature handlebars and the smaller front wheel.
Initially, Raleigh challenged his concept, saying it would cost a lot more to build a bike with two different-sized wheels but Karen stuck to his guns and won the argument. In an interview with the Daily Express before he died, he revealed some of his other clever design tricks.
“Beneath the seat there were some springs which didn’t actually do anything and on the rear wheel there was what looked like a disc brake which, similarly, was purely decorative,” he said. “We also raised the mudguards
right off the wheels to imply there was racing suspension and that it needed that kind of clearance. Again, this was pure fantasy, but children loved it.
“With a kickstand which allowed you to park it as if it were a motorcycle, it looked and felt like a proper, dangerous, noisy, high-performance adult machine. I knew it was a winner.”
THE new 2023 Chopper is similar to the original, with just a few minor modifications in order to conform to modern safety regulations. Adam Snow is the product manager at Raleigh working on the relaunch.
“We have thickened up some tubing and the saddle is a bit lower but, at first glance, it looks the same as the Mk2. The design has stood the test of time remarkably well. The new model is actually stronger than the old.”
During the relaunch process, Raleigh
invited Chopper collectors along to their headquarters in Nottingham to give the prototypes a spin.
One of them was 27-year-old Harry Potter (yes, really), co-founder of the Raleigh Chopper Owners’ Club and proud owner of no less than 60 of the bikes, all lovingly kept at his home in Barmouth, North Wales.
“They have done a fantastic job,” he says of the relaunch. “They look just like the Mk2s and ride pretty much the same as the older ones, just a little smoother. Although I’m a fan, I went into this with an open mind. I was impressed.
“Chopper fans will not be disappointed and hopefully they will be popular with people who know nothing about them. Personally, I think they are the coolest bikes. I take mine out all the time.
“They’re easy to ride, comfortable and good to look at.”
Potter hopes to snap up one of the new limited-edition Choppers. So far, his hobby has set him back around £50,000.
It’s about to cost him even more.