OT Raleigh Chopper to make return

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/new/index.html £200 FFS. Although that's less than
a pukka 1970s one which make £400 apparently.

If you do not know WTF I'm on about then
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/index.html

Reminds me of an ickle anecdote:

I was the youngest of 4 so tended to get hand me downs as far as bikes were
concerned. As the 2 in between me & my brother were girls this was not
ideal for strret cred.

My best mate, an only & very spoilt child, had a mk1 Chopper with the high
backrest.

I was not jealous at all. Oh no.

Also, I didn't laugh when he sat too far back on the seat, gave it some
wellie, wheelied and fell off. His adult teeth had just come through and he
sported a few chips on his new teeth & bike.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, wessie

The gearshift's on the handle bars to "comply with modern safety
standards".

It ain't a fuckin' Chopper then, is it?

That gear change was *so* cool...

 

Wasn't it just. I had a Chopper. Orange, it was. At least I think it
was Orange.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,
typed

<sigh>

I never did. My mate did. I had to wait for CIHAGMs. I wanted one.
*Really* wanted one.

But we were poor, see.

 

Heh, so were we.

I had a rat chopper. I think I was the 14th owner and it was brush
painted in matt black.

I miss that bike.

 

yes, but it so hurt when you gave it too much front brake and you slid on
your polyester trousers across the vinyl seat to land with your proto
nadgers impaled on it.

 

I'm not bitter. Bastard!
I only had a Grifter.
Possibly the heaviest child's pushbike ever made?

It was red.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, wessie

Safety Nazi. "No pain, no gain".

And if you want to know what *real* bollock pain is like, try a BSA
Bantam field bike. When the front wheel drops into a ****-off great
pot-hole, the bike stops dead, you don't and your bollocks hit the tank,
which has half-inch high welded seams at *exactly* bollock-spacing...

Well. Then, my son, *then* you will know just how much pain your
testicles can give you.

Trust me on this.

 

I've ridden a Bantam. My brother [1] had a 125 & a 175 IIRC. Never suffered
that experience though. Only rode it, illegally, on the road about 1974
aged 11.

[1] the one with the melodeons, did you contact him about the d/g? Says he
knows you and your dad. Summat about "makes good hurdies".

 

My younger brother had one. His riding pleasure came to a sudden end
when it became unstable and he bottled it riding down a steep hill. He
mounted the kerb and was catapulted into a set of park railings, jamming
his head firmly between two of them.

Poor fecker was unconscious for 3 days, afair.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19

 

My Mum wouldn't let me have one as they 'were dangerous'. I had a hand
me down 5 speed racer instead [1].


[1] Raleigh Olympus, weighed about the same as Mount Olympus.

 

They were very unstable on hills (going downhill, obviously).

A mate of mine crashed another mates's orange Mk1 on a newly resurfaced road
where I lived, most folks thought the council had used red chippings.

Nasty it was.

--
Oldbloke

2000 Honda CB500, 1990 Suzuki TS50 (m'boy's), Spagthorpe Basenji i
BOTAFOT #140
"He's like Robbo's chubby kid brother"

 

ISTR the Raleigh Olympus has horribly narrow drop handlebars which made
cornering interesting.

--
Oldbloke

2000 Honda CB500, 1990 Suzuki TS50 (m'boy's), Spagthorpe Basenji i
BOTAFOT #140
"He's like Robbo's chubby kid brother"

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, wessie

I haven't contacted him yet, it's on "the list". I'm not that Nigel
Eaton by the way. He's a world-famous hurdy-gurdy player, and played
(and I kid you not here) hurdy-gurdy on a Led Zeppelin album.

I get the odd[1] email meant for him, asking when I'm next playing a
gig.

[1] some *very odd...

 

<AOL>

 

# Nigel Eaton is dead and gone
# His bike stopped and he went on

 

sweller said...

I got a 3 speed Raleigh Wayfarer, I wasn't even allowed a racer. Wasn't
long before it had cow-horns and speedway tyres.

 

I had one of those. IIRC I bought it about 3 weeks before the Chopper
came out and couldn't get the shop to swap it for a Chopper.

 

What a bizarre coincidence that there are 2 people with the same name
with an interest in such obscure folk instruments.

Fires up google.
http://www.cutting-tweed.demon.co.uk/Sam&Nigelphoto.html

He doesn't look like how you are described on here. [0] perhaps we
should've checked before assumptions were made.

[0] COFF# in sig & references to weight

 

I wanted one with the same desire I had for a pair of Clarks Wayfinder
shoes. Remember those? With the animal paw print soles and the secret
compass in the heel.

So secret that they advertised it on TV, so every **** knew you had it.