Did You Own One Of These Bicycles In The 70s/80s?

[martin clark]

+! to that
And Grifters were just bloody horrid.

 

[sq225917]

Didn't a brit cycle up mt Vontoux on a chopper?

 

[Spike]

The really discerning child had a Chopper with derailleur gears.

How f**king cool is that?

M cousin had that exact same bike. The year changing was rubbish.

 

[Rob998]

Didn't a brit cycle up mt Vontoux on a chopper?

Imagine being on the receiving end of this:

 

[Hook]

My age 10 birthday present.

Stock photo of a 1966 Schwinn Stingray.

 

[Snufkin]

Thanks for the tip. Are they real, imperial 20 inch (451) do you know or metric (406) claiming to be 20s? The front wheel on this one is metric but the back's not. 406 is the BMX standard so there are a lot of rims and tyres, 451 is pretty rare these days.

I am pretty sure the Moulton 20" rims are 406 so you would need to change the back rim to be able to use them.

 

[Ellenor]

Had a blue grifter. Heaviest bike I ever had and could never get all 3 gears to work. Used to jump off it while going down the hill opposite our house and it would track a perfectly straight line before launching itself on the curb and hitting the garage wall. Never did it a bit of damage apart from a few scratches.

 

[sq225917]

Grifters were mint, you could flip that front mud flap over for top motorbike noises.

 

[-alan-]

My age 10 birthday present.

Stock photo of a 1966 Schwinn Stingray.

By'ell you were looky lad..
I got one of these lardy brutes as a hand-me-down:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145571820@N03/33331777935/

Eventually managed to break the frame into two parts just over the bottom bracket jumping it off a kerb - but sadly alas, my uncle (who was a metalwork instructor at the local tech) managed to braze it back together. Damn thing lasted another 3-4 years

 

[Mr Cat]

I had a Dawes something or other 5 speed racer but always fancied a chopper until I had a go on one. The riding position didn’t suit, probably because I was tall kid and it felt cumbersome, uncomfortable and very slow. Most of my mates had racers at the time but there was one really annoying kid who hung out with us, who rode a chopper.

I remember once after he caught up, persuading him that it was possible to ride through a ford without getting wet if you hit it fast enough and that we had all done it. He then hit it at I guess about 20 mph and got drenched from head to foot. We were in hysterics.

one of my mates had a grifter too - and he gave me a backer down a steep bank, then he decided to turn off into his street...he somehow mounted the kerb and his handlebars missed the wall by inches...

 

[TimF]

The Schwinn Apple, Orange and Lemon Crate bikes are what I always lusted for as a kid. Instead I got some cheap “copy” of one that was a three speed at the local Five and Dime.

The other variety of the above and rare was the Grey Ghost, which one of my friends had. Damn him. Those were fun days.

 

[Lee T]

I was exactly the target age for a Chopper, but even as a kid realised it was not a good bike after a quick ride of friends despite the trendy looks. I remember it being ridiculously hard work, heavy, slow and unstable. The pretty low-quality 3 speed conventional (drop bars) bike I had ran just ran rings around them. I could easily cycle to the next town, up hills etc, which is not something you’d ever want to do on a Chopper!

Oh Tony, you must have been such fun as a kid.

Pedestrians could have walked faster than my 50's Bantom, not the point.

 

[Ptah]

Were you a youngster or a grown up at the time? I don't recall any youngsters having one but a few mums and dads did. I had a go on one once along an unmade road and it was relatively hard work.

I was 11 or 12 - you could 'grow into' the bike due to the girly low cross bar (very modernist). The main roads in Bristol in the 60s weren't at all bad but cycling up the hills to the Downs could be, er, good exercise.

 

[Fatmarley]

I had a Raleigh Commando. "This was a Raleigh Eighteen with a chopper-style seat. It was aimed at the youth market. "

That's the one I had. Got a picture of me on it somewhere.

 

[Fatmarley]

Raleigh Grifter here - that was a bloody heavy bike.
Then caught the BMX wave with a Raleigh Ultra Burner which was briefly like this one:

My parents bought me a brand new black and gold ultra burner after my Commando.

By the time I'd finished customising it, the frame was the only original part left.

 

[sq225917]

I lost the inside of my right foot to the metal spoke saver on a chopper. Sliced it clean open like a bacon slicer, about 5mm deep and a 3 inch flap, ooh it bled.. stitches and everything.

Moral, dont take backies in bare feet.

 

[irons1965]

Red Tomahawk for me, I loved that bike.
Always envious that my cousin owned a yellow Raleigh Chopper though.

 

[Craig B]

My first proper two-wheeler was the civilian equivalent of the Raliegh 'rod brake' bobby bike, minus the fully enclosed chain cover. After riding that behemouth round during my formative years, I had legs of steel. The first time I hopped on a proper road racing bike, I was passing cars like they were going backward! With toe clips and tubular tyres on, I was a racing legend in my own mind!

 

[molee]

My mate had a red Chopper and I covetted that thing so. When he, finally, let me have a go I immediately rode full speed straight at a kerb in the belief that it would sail effortlessly through/over. It didn't but I did.

 

[-alan-]

^

I think all of us that age coveted the damn things like mad - but they were truthfully overweight bad handling brutes of things.