![]() “Oh yeah, I still ride them,” Sykes adds. But don’t for one moment think they’ll spend eternity gathering dust. ![]() It’s unlikely that many of today’s kids will actually get to experience the thrill of riding one of the brand new Choppers most of the limited edition new models have already been sold to collectors. I paid a hell of a lot of money for that: £5,500.” “Bearing in mind that Alan Oakley came back on November 3, 1968, I’ve got a hub-dated MkI Chopper which is from December 11, 1968. “I’ve got one which nobody has beaten yet,” he adds. Of alloy wheels, so a few came out with steel wheels on them. “768 special edition jubilees were made,” he explains. The holy grail of Chopper collecting, according to Sykes, is a certain version of the special edition Chopper released for Christmas 1976 to commemorate the Queen’s silver jubilee the following year. “Some of them come with pictures of the kid next to the Christmas tree, and some have the original receipt with them showing how much they paid down at Halfords.” Also, since they were handmade in Raleigh’s Nottingham factory, the odd ‘Friday afternoon job’ with upside-down stickers sometimes crops up too. The cult of Chopper even has its own creation myth: the late Raleigh designer Alan Oakley, flying back from a research trip to the US to see the Chopper’s pre-cursor, the Schwinn Stingray, famously sketched designs for the first prototype on the back of an airmail envelope. Raleigh made three ‘marks’ but hundreds of different options three, five and 10-speeds dropped handlebars and a few rarities where the factory had to shift old stock and blended old parts with new. Part of the appeal of collecting Choppers comes down to their sheer variety. I did a deal with a guy in America, for nine MkIIs and four MkIs for the bike.” “The most I paid for one was for a 10-speed, brand spanking new. This design classic of the 1970s was redesigned several times to overcome handling problems and was relaunched in 2004.“The most expensive I’ve seen went for over £7,000 and that was a boxed MkI 10-speed still wrapped up in its box,” Sykes adds. In 2004, with 1970s nostalgia in the air, Raleigh revived the model. ![]() In 1984 production ceased but not before 1.5 million had been sold. However, with the rise of the BMX, the Chopper fell out of favour. Several redesigns reduced the impact of these issues. The Chopper, however, was not without problems, particularly regarding the handling, as the centre of gravity had been moved further back than usual. All these traits helped to make it one of the most popular and much desired bikes of the 1970s, a design classic of its time. Made specifically for children and incorporating the radical new long 'Polo' seat, wide tyres with coloured line decoration, a three speed gear stick and a distinctive frame, it was available in a variety of colours. This design classic of the 1970s was redesigned several times to overcome handling problems and was relaunched in 2004.Designed in the late 1960s by Raleigh employee Alan Oakley, the Chopper was a departure from the standard bicycle design.
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