Could A Modern Raleigh Chopper Bicycle Be Just What The Kids Of ...

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Could A Modern Raleigh Chopper Bicycle Be Just What The Kids Of ... The Autopian

It’s the middle of the 1970s, and you’re looking at the most fabulous vehicle you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Chrome trim contrasts the bright metal-flake paint on this product of the design geniuses at Ogle, the firm that also made such masterpieces as the Reliant Scimitar and the SX1000. A “floor” mounted three-speed gear selecter with a cool indicator window gauge transfers power to the back, where the rear rubber is bigger than the front.

You’d do anything for a machine like this, and you’re hoping that you’ve been good enough that Santa will bring you one this Christmas.

What? Oh, did I forget to mention that we’re talking about a bicycle and that you’re in elementary school? Well, if you’re a GenXer, the name “Raleigh Chopper” will mean something to you. If not, let me explain.

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Raleigh Bicycles​

Rebel Machine For Suburbia
It’s hard to imagine this type of product ever existing today, but the Raleigh Chopper was a “Muscle Bike” or “Wheelie Bike”, a genre of bicycles that were kid’s toys inspired indirectly by the motorcycle culture Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper celebrated with outlaw drug-filled biker films like The Wild Angels and Easy Rider. We’re talking about movies with Fonda diatribes like:

“We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride! We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that’s what we’re gonna do. We are gonna have a good time. We are gonna have a party.”

Honestly, anything that involves Dennis Hopper doesn’t sound much like something to influence children’s playthings, but then I never thought Vampire films like The Hunger would ever transmogrify into tween drivel like the “Twilight” series.

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The Raleigh Chopper actually wasn’t the first wheelie bike. The Schwinn Sting Ray debuted in 1963 as a response to a California trend of fitting motorcycle-style accouterments to bicycles such as long “banana” seats, tall “ape hanger” handlebars, and ...


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