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TECH NEWS

New Raleigh Chopper inspired by golden era of motorsport

Limited edition model is gloss black with gold graphics

A new limited edition Raleigh Chopper is designed to pay homage to a golden era of motorsport.

Featuring a small 16in front wheel, a 20in back wheel and ape hanger bars, the new Chopper takes basic components of the iconic British-designed bike and brings in some modern features like a denim two-piece saddle rather than the original super-long saddle design, a lightweight aluminium frame and Shimano 6-speed chainset. Oh, and the new Chopper doesn’t have the gearstick shifter of years gone by.

The 2015 Chopper follows the Mk 1 and Mk 2 Choppers of the 1970s, and several re-issues in the 2000s, including last year's limited edition Beano special

This version is gloss black with gold graphics that are designed to evoke memories of Formula 1 motor racing. 

“Big side burns, champagne-soaked podiums, BBC Grandstand, Murray Walker, burning rubber and big engines; these bad boys are set to tear up and down high streets this autumn,” say Raleigh. And we salute them for saying that.

The 2015 Chopper is set to retail for £250 and can be ordered via any Raleigh stockist. www.raleigh.co.uk.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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37 comments

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Flying Scot | 9 years ago
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They were truly awful, but that made an excellent training aid for future bike handling.

I managed to shear the handlebars off at the stem....going round a roundabout! My dad's welding repair and subsequent matt black painting of the bars lasted about 3 days.

That's one ultra violet mark 2 that ended up in the skip!

And 2nd gear always slipped into neutral.

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FluffyKittenofT... | 9 years ago
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All this evokes for me are memories of the 'rich kid' in my street who of course was the only child to have a chopper bike.

Though in retrospect he was only 'rich' in the sense that 'posh spice' is posh. C2, C1 at best! I think his dad was actually a bus driver, but dammit his family were 'aspirational', he always had far more expensive stuff than the rest of us.

And thanks to him, this style of bike is now forever linked in my mind to casual racism. I concede this association might not be objectively justifiable.

It retrospectively cheers me greatly to read about how bad they were to actually ride!

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WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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What could British Standard ( was a pair of initials ever so apt..?) have against the original one piece curved saddle?

Is it an attempt to stop 'backies' perhaps?

I had the sensible pale blue Raleigh 5 speed racer but my mate owned one and they were truly dreadful to steer. How a split saddle will improve steering I can't imagine.

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sidesaddle | 9 years ago
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Good ole H&S. I wonder if anyone can dig up an actual documented case of .. er .. Chopper castration?

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Flying Scot replied to WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

What could British Standard ( was a pair of initials ever so apt..?) have against the original one piece curved saddle?

Is it an attempt to stop 'backies' perhaps?.

I believe it is, yes.

I'm sure they could sell one as a piece or art or an ornament and sign the risk over to the user to pledge not to ride it.

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wayno265 | 9 years ago
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My mate David Neal had one of these and my mum banned me from riding it, because they were so dangerous. Of course I ignored her and had a spin down his long downhill drive on it, which ended with me having only about 20% of my skin left intact. I had to tell her I fell off MY bike, and I can remember my old man look from my perfectly intact bike to me and back, with a quizzical look on his face, but fair play, he kept his mouth shut.

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wayno265 replied to sidesaddle | 9 years ago
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I think they castrate the bollocks rather than the chopper...

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