Chopper
Every young boys dream, the Raleigh Chopper
was the coolest bike to be seen on…even if it was
impossible to ride without falling off and grazing
your knees. Styled on the dragster, with a long seat
and larger back wheels, it was the first designer bike
for kids, and possibly the ugliest and most unstable
push-bike of all time.
A triumph of style over ability, it was released in
1970 - covered in knobs and whistles that didn’t
really do anything, except the gear lever that made
you fall off when changing gear! Despite its
impracticality, by 1973 it had become the country’s
best selling bike and is now an icon of the
Seventies.
As motorcycle stuntman Evel Kneivel’s
popularity reached its height, Chopper even released a
Kneivel bike - complete with fake exhaust pipe.