Introduction

The Raleigh Chopper was a children's bicycle manufactured and marketed from the late sixties to 1980's by Raleigh. Its unique design became a true 70's icon and remains fondly remembered, having been incorporated into engineering design. Based on the look of a customised chopper motorcycle of the 50's - 60's, the Chopper was a "must have" item for many children (and still remains so for many young-at-heart).  It all seemed to have started with a strange polo-seat, and a V8 engine.

One could probably trace the history of the Raleigh Chopper right back to the Ford Motor Company's 1932 model releases. The Ford V8 engine was the catalyst of all Hot Rodding and Custom  development, as it was fitted to anything - anything - that could move. By the mid 1950's the "custom scene" included the motorcycle, of which the engine had been modified, the frame stripped to  bare necessities, and the forks lightened and 'stretched'. The fitment of high 'ape hanger' handlebars and halfsized rear mudguards characterized "Chopping", nowhere more prominent than Harley-Davidson's Chopper.

At the same time , an American bicycle-saddle manufacturer (Pearsons Majestic) had developed a seat for bicycle-polo. The seat was L-shaped, long and thin and required rear support  (via a tube attached to the rear wheel's nuts). Bicycle-polo never caught on, but Pearsons persevered with their strange seat believing in its potential. No one knows whether it was a reject polo bike that got the treatment, or whether it was a purpose built bicycle, but the fact remains that some Californian kids back in the very early 1960s - in their back yards - produced the first 'chopped' bicycle with  'apehanger' handlebars and a Pearsos Majestic poloseat.  Al Fritz (working as a concept designer for the Schwinn bicycle company at the time) saw the Californian creation, built a 20 inch variation, and through his perseverance - in June 1963 - the first Schwinn 'Stingray' 20 inch bicycle rolled into dealer's stores. It was an overnight success, taking America by storm. The Stingray is one of the most definitive consumer products ever created, having inspired / evolved into both the Raleigh Chopper, and the 80's BMX.

The Raleigh Chopper

Raleigh's chief designer - Alan Oakley - is credited with the design of the Chopper "on the back of an envelope". Oakley was inspired by custom bikes built by Schwinn on the west coast of the USA, such as the 1968 "Orangekrate". Raleigh themselves built a copy of the chopper-like Schwinn Stingray they called the Rodeo, which was launched in the US in 1966. It was not a success, but its design was a forerunner of the Chopper.

 This bike featured a 3-speed Sturmey Archer gear hub selected via a frame mounted car-like gear lever — a system unique to the Chopper and one of its core features. Other remarkable differences from the average bike were the unusual frame design, the long padded seat with backrest, sprung suspension at the back, the high-rise handlebars, and the differently sized front (16") and rear (20") wheels. Tyres were wider than what was usual for bicycles of the time with a chunky tread pattern on the rear wheel featuring red highlights on the sidewall. The Chopper was launched initially in the USA in 1968, unsuccessfully so. It went on sale in the UK in 1970, and took suburbia by storm. A smaller version - aimed at younger children - the Tomahawk, was also incredibly popular.

This original Chopper is fondly remembered, though it was not without its problems and legitimate criticism:
• the design was less stable than a 'conventional' design, slow, heavy, and trickier to ride. It was completely unsuited for long-distance riding.
• even at moderate speed it suffered from speed wobbles,
• it was often attacked in the press as a dangerous toy -  the long "banana seat" lent itself to lifting others - and accidents were not uncommon.
• because of unbalanced weight ditribution it would perform unintended 'wheelies',
• the famous gear lever was unfortunately placed and could cause injury in the event of a 'faceplant'.

  At the same time it is to be remembered that the Chopper single-handedly rescued the largest cyclery provider in the 20th century (which had been in steady decline during the 1960's) selling millions of bikes worldwide. It was the "cool bike to own" and exumed status. Even today, the Chopper enjoys a nostalgic resurgence thanks to the efforts of various enthusiasts and owners' clubs.

Development of the Chopper

The Mk2 Chopper was an improved version sold from 1972 onwards. These bikes had the option of a five-speed derailleur gear system in place of the hub gears, but retained the carlike gear lever. The Mk2 also moved the rear wheel further back relative to the rider's weight, to help prevent the bike from tipping up / wheeling. The Chopper remained in production until 1980, when the BMX swallowed the market.

On some Choppers the chainwheels' herons face left, others face right, as the chainwheel was stamped, polished and stamped a second time - to put the actual chainteeth slightly offset from the centre boss - but the machinist simply tossed the pressing into the second stamping machine, and the herons faced depending upon which way it landed.  (It was then fixed to the crank, and went to the platers.)

The Chopper was a ground breaking design and in its first year of sales, Raleigh sold every one they could make. By the end of 1971 capacity at Nottingham was at full stretch to produce enough bikes, as dealers were selling every Chopper that Raleigh could churn out.

Many dealers felt that children’s bikes should be clones of adult bikes, and required racing handlebars. The Raleigh Chopper Sprint was (somehow) developed being an almost complete re-design with few parts of the MK2 being utilised, a costly mistake. Launched as the 'Rudge Chopper'  during the latter half of 1972's (even though the bikes were clearly badged as Raleigh) the drophandled Sprint did badly in the marketplace,  and was discontinued less than a year later.

Raleigh subsequently released a pink 5spd Chopper aimed at girls, but it also did not sell well (these bikes remain very collectable.) The 5spd Chopper had a 5 cog cassette derailleur transmission, with a shifter similarly poistioned to the 3spd's.

'3's' versus '5's'

The '5's back wheel remained with the ‘Red Line’ rear tyre, but the hub, spokes and spindle was different to a 3 speed.  The rim was the same as the 3 speed, but the spindle was slightly wider than the ‘3’ to be able to accomodate the gear cog, and to clear the chain the rear chainstays have a definite bend / "kick up" as opposed to the 3 speed's straight tubes. The rear wheel also has ‘R’ nuts on both sides. The rear spoke protector is different to the three speed - the same as some racing bikes from the period. The sissy bar, springs and seat stem are the same.

Despite the '5' frame's resembling the ‘3's' (except for the chainstays) , the rear dropouts (slots that the rear wheel fit into) also differ. The ‘3’s go straight back, as opposed to the  ‘5’s rake back at an angle, which means that a 3 speed frame can't be fitted with a ‘5’ speed derailleur.  The gap between the drop outs is also wider than the ‘3’. The colour ( Sharp / Dusky Pink) is unique to the ‘5’, as are the decals.

The Chainwheel and chain differs from the '3' to '5', as the chain has to be thinner to get between all 5 of the cogs being a racing bike chain.  Accordingly the '5's' chainwheel is slimmer than the ‘3’s', and the chainwheel does not have the ‘Heron’ logo on it . The cranks are slightly different too but the same length as the three! The pedals are the same 'long reflector' type. The brake callipers and levers are the same, and the brakes used the usual ribbed cable. The shifter's two levers functions the same, as the long lever (red knobs in the UK) changes gear but does not ‘click’ into place.  The small black knob tensions the large red lever to hold it in gear. The diecast base under the console cover is the same as the ‘3’, with the small lever added to the side of it and the ‘click’ mechanism removed. The console cover is different from the ‘3’ in that the window has a ‘Hi - Low’ sticker over it, and an extra slot for the tensioner lever.

The 3 speed was considerably less expensive than the 5 speed (despite 5 speed Choppers launched at a suprisingly lower  price than the Mk2.  5 speed Choppers held on to1976, by which time they were phased out and replaced by the Raleigh Chopper SE.

The Raleigh Chopper S.E. (Special Edition) of '76/'77 has become the single most sought after Chopper model, because i) its silver identity stood it apart from other Mk2 Choppers, and ii) of its scarcity. The bike was released at a time when the Chopper was still riding high in the U.K's bicycle popularity stakes, but the BMX r/evolution in the USA signalled the end of the small high-rise bike. Raleigh realised they needed to keep the Chopper line afloat, and in 1976 they released the infamous "Grifter" bike to try to get a foothold into the BMX market. (The B.M.X. craze didn’t really get a hold in the U.K., until Stephen Spielberg’s 1980 "E.T." - featuring Kuwahara BMX bikes - ripped the small bike world apart.
 
In 1977 the Silver Jubilee model was phased out, and it was time for a more business headed approach. The MK2 colour range had been expanded by all the “special editions” with the original red, purple and yellow having been joined by metallic blue and silver.

By 1978 Chopper-sales were slowing down, and there was the last try at a “special edition”. Black - taking a pointer from custom car community and JPS sponsored motorsport - was chosen as the base colour of the Chopper, allowing a contrast with new diffraction stickers.

Originally invented for the musical instrument trade, diffraction tape had been taken up with enthusiasm by the custom car painters. It was a multi-layer vinyl adhesive tape (with prisms in the transparent tape) that "bent" light as it refelcted from the tape's surface. It allowing a myriad of colours to be seen in one silverish reflection, creating intreresting visual effects.

The bike was basically a standard MK2 with special graphics, which meant production costs were the same throughout the range, no tooling requirements, special wheels or handlebars to spend on.The chain guard sticker was altered, and instead of saying “Raleigh” it had a set of exhausts with flames coming out of their tips, all-in-all being a clever attempt at updating the bike . The rest of the stickers followed time honoured tradition with Raleigh on the seat tube, and Chopper on the down tube. The Arrow wedge sticker on the right top tube was considered too small for diffraction treatment, and a 'red' version was fitted.

The Black prismatic continued and sold well right until the end of Chopper production. By 1979 the colour range was cut down to the Red (now called “Hot Red” instead of “Infra Red”), Silver ("Quick Silver" and later "Pearl Silver"), Space Blue,  and Black (with Prismatic graphics.)

These four models continued to sell well into 1980's, the three original colours being discontinued leaving the Black bike as last bike standing when production was finally phased out by 1982. Towards the end of production, a few subtle changes took place. The famous “R” nuts disappeared from all Raleigh small wheel bikes including the Chopper, to be replaced with just plain nuts that weren’t even chrome plated. Sturmey Archer changed the bolt through the centre of the brake callipers from the old favourite round head with a slot to a hex headed bolt, and the calliper metal was slightly thinned. The front forks' cross sections were reduced in 1980, when the thread on the head nuts area on the front forks changed  from the existing Raleigh style 26 threads per inch, and became more industry standard 24 threads per inch.

Frame numbers

A Chopper had its frame built first, and a frame number stamped onto it, whereafter it was booth-painted. The frame number were stamped  on the rear  dropout with early bikes, later on the rear of the seat tube. Choppers were painted in batches of one colour (the frame number doesn’t indicate the colour), depending on the colour assigned to the batch. When the paint had dried  it had had decals attached (matching the colour set of front forks). The bike was assembled and had its rear wheel fitted, the Sturmey Archer rear hubs having been built in the Raleigh factory in parallel with the bikes. The rear hub has a date on it, and this date will be approximately the same date as the frame. With your frame number and the rear hub dates tallying, it is the only way of accurately dating your bike's build date.

Note : frame dates stop at October 1980 being when the last frame was braised together at the factory. The last batch's frames were all painted black with diffraction tape decals, and assembled into full bikes upon order, and rear hub dates carry on well into 1982, despite frame dates stopping Oct 1980.

The frames were a registered design; basically copyrighted to prevent other manufacturers producing a frame of identical shape and proportions.The Mk 1 frames had a small sticker on the front of the seat tube, which had “Reg.d Design Nos 934256 934304” written on it ( this sticker appeared in mid 1970 as it took a while from submitting a design to being allocated a design number.)

The Mk 2 bikes had a sticker that heralded not only its design number, but also its design shape : the 'Arrow Wedge'. Located on the right side top tube (under the seat) the sticker originally said "Arrow Wedge Design Applied For". Early Mk twos and Sprints had this sticker. An actual number didn’t appear until early 1974, when the sticker changed to read “Arrow Wedge Reg’d Des No 954915” , proof of a two year wait for the design number to be approved and issued. Strangely enough, around 1977 the sticker changed number, and became “Arrow Wedge Reg’d Des No 954916” , despite the frame's design being identical to the earlier bikes.

The other design number found on the Chopper bike relates to seat design. The metal plate (where the reflector mounts) on the rear of the seat, has “Reg’d No 934257 Made in England” stamped into it (which design number existed on the seat backplate throughout the production run of the Chopper on both Mk 1 and Mk 2 bikes despite the discrepancy in length). It would  indicate that the overall design of the seat - not exact dimensions - was registered. The Mk 2 seat was used on the Raleigh Tomahawk Mk 1, and carried the same design details. The seat used on the Raleigh Chopper Sprint and the Mk 1 Chipper was basically the Raleigh Fireball/Rodeo seat , had neither seat back-plate nor design numbers. The Alloy base of the gear shifter mechanism merely had “Patent Applied For” written on it.

Raleigh & Sturmey Archer

Sturmey Archer produced the most popular three-speed bicycle rear hub in the known universe, and it graced the rear wheel of just about every English three-speed racer as well as Chopper sold in the U.K. Hub gears (or internal-gear hubs) are a type of gear system mostly on utility bikes and small- wheeled bicycles such as folding bikes. Hub gears work by internal planetary (or epicyclic gearing) which means that the outer case of the hub gear unit (which is attached to the spokes) is made to turn at a different speed relative to the rear wheel's sprocket, depending on which gear is selected. The inner gear or "sun gear" provides the input rotation, and the "planet gears" rotate freely about the planet gear carrier, which is fixed. As the planet gears rotate about the sun gear, they propel the outer ring gear or "annulus" which provides the output rotation. Unlike derailleur gears - where the gears and mechanism are exposed -  hub gears are enclosed within the hub of the bicycle's rear wheel, and gears are changed by a cable which tensioned by either a lever or twist grip.

In 1888 - at age 38 -  Frank Bowden (after having cycled himself back to health) was so impressed with the humble bicycle he bought an interest in a small, 3-bikes-a-week bicycle factory on Raleigh rd, Nottingham, England, from Mssrs. Woodhead, Angois and Ellis. Under Bowden's investment, leadership and marketing he steered the Raleigh road operation to set up the largest bicycle factory in the world by 1896 (in Nottingham), from which Raleigh eventually became the largest cycle company of the 20th century.

Over time Bowden realised that bicycles were lacking geared transmission, and by 1902 he was on his way to producing the 3 speed gear hub with the assistance of two inventors, Henry Sturmey (a schoolmaster) and James Archer (an engineer). They invented the  ‘Three-Speed Syndicate Limited of Nottingham’ three speed rear hubs, but the name was cumbersome and changed to "Sturmey Archer Gears Limited", eventually settling on "Sturmey Archer”. From 1905 to 1908 Mssrs Sturmey & Archer were diligently at work in their factory, and by the outbreak of World War One they were producing motorcycle gearboxes for the military. Sturmey Archer evolved into production of many systems, yet will be principally remembered for the 3 speed gear set that remained in production until the 1990s.

2004 - The revival of an icon.

A new version of the Chopper, the Mk3 - in classic Chopper red - was launched in 2004, after being out of production for almost 25 years. The Mk3, in adherence to sensible safety concerns, adopts a more conventional saddle design and has dropped the groin - catching gear lever in favour of  Sturmey Archer 3spd internal gearhub with handlebar mounted Twister gear controls. The Mk3  is built from aluminium alloy (rather than steel tubing ) making the bike a bit lighter. The 3piece crankset sports the original 'heron' chainwheel design, and the linear pull brakes are alloy based. The new bike has oldschool red-line tyres, a custom chrome -sissybar, -handlebar, -fenders and rack.

All in all, the 2004 Chopper is aimed at uniting retro buff's (despite the sensible upgrades incorporated in the distictive wedge style frame), aimed to transport in 'Easy Rider' style. It's neither a hill-climber nor is it stable at speed, yet remains 'ubercool', reminding us of a time of biking innocense.