“Oh yeah, I still ride them,” Sykes adds. But don’t for one moment think they’ll spend eternity gathering dust. It’s unlikely that many of today’s kids will actually get to experience the thrill of riding one of the brand new Choppers most of the limited edition new models have already been sold to collectors. I paid a hell of a lot of money for that: £5,500.” “Bearing in mind that Alan Oakley came back on November 3, 1968, I’ve got a hub-dated MkI Chopper which is from December 11, 1968. “I’ve got one which nobody has beaten yet,” he adds. Of alloy wheels, so a few came out with steel wheels on them. “768 special edition jubilees were made,” he explains. The holy grail of Chopper collecting, according to Sykes, is a certain version of the special edition Chopper released for Christmas 1976 to commemorate the Queen’s silver jubilee the following year.
“Some of them come with pictures of the kid next to the Christmas tree, and some have the original receipt with them showing how much they paid down at Halfords.” Also, since they were handmade in Raleigh’s Nottingham factory, the odd ‘Friday afternoon job’ with upside-down stickers sometimes crops up too. The cult of Chopper even has its own creation myth: the late Raleigh designer Alan Oakley, flying back from a research trip to the US to see the Chopper’s pre-cursor, the Schwinn Stingray, famously sketched designs for the first prototype on the back of an airmail envelope. Raleigh made three ‘marks’ but hundreds of different options three, five and 10-speeds dropped handlebars and a few rarities where the factory had to shift old stock and blended old parts with new. Part of the appeal of collecting Choppers comes down to their sheer variety. I did a deal with a guy in America, for nine MkIIs and four MkIs for the bike.” “The most I paid for one was for a 10-speed, brand spanking new.
RALEIGH CHOPPER BICYCLE FOR SALE SOUTH AFRICA FREE
All in all a great find and i hope your going to restore it to its former glory? If you need any help or advice please feel free to ask.“The most expensive I’ve seen went for over £7,000 and that was a boxed MkI 10-speed still wrapped up in its box,” Sykes adds. choppers here have 'Sturmey Archer' and a load of numbers stamped on the rim. The number starts with an 'N' If no number, then try the looking on the rear left dropout)) Also if you take a closer look at the wheel rims you'll probably find they're blank. (Nottingham built bikes normally have a frame number stamped at the back of the seat tube towards the top. I wonder if you've have had a look for a frame number? All the SA bikes i have don't have a frame number stamped. Don't worry though most of the parts fitted to yours are correct for a SA Chopper Mk2. The crank you see fitted on your SA mk2 is the crank type normally fitted to the Raleigh RSW.
The crank also differs from the GB market. Also the SA MK2 Chopper was fitted with parts that were traditionally fitted to the Raleigh Chopper MK1, like the sissy bar for instance. Firstly you have a colour and decals that weren't available in GB. The South African Raleigh Chopper model range differs from the model range in Great britain. What you have, as you know is a MK2 Raleigh Chopper that rolled out of the "Springs" factory here in South Africa.
Well Bennie, How lucky are you to own such a rare iconic bike of the 70's. I have just got this 70's Raleigh Chopper :D and would like to know if there are other Chopper owners out there that could assist me with information on possible websites/suppliers iro spares for the complete restoration of it.Īny other info would be greatly appreciated!
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