Raleigh Grifter resto '78 Mk1
Discussion
After restoring the Kuw ET a year or so ago & then last winter having a crack at the Mk2 Chopper I was keen to get on with another icon of the 70's, the Raleigh Grifter. You either were in the Grifter camp or the Chopper camp back in the 70's. Both bikes in my mind were killed off by the BMX craze in the early 80's. Grifters tried to adapt & became more BMX like but there were just to heavy to chuck about. Eventually Raleigh gave up on it & the Burner took over.
So, purchased from ebay for £38, this 1978 Mk1 Grifter was just like the one I remember my cousin having. They were either blue or red & everyone knows blue ones are faster
The guy who I bought it from spotted it on the back of a truck on its way to the tip, he flagged it down & bought it off the driver, he didnt say how much he paid for it.
This is how it looked when I got it home
I gave it a quick clean, found a proper gear cable, bought new tyres & kept it like that until the Chopper was finished. I then dicided to give it a good go so out with the spanners & stripped it down. Everything came apart failry simply, it took about an hour to get the handlebars out as they were rusted in & the cotterpins were a pain but you get used to that. Your average Grifter is has no respect for a hammer no matter how hard you hit it. Here its stripped
Before stripping the paint from the frame I needed to make sure I could get the right shade of blue. The best selection of colours are from Motaman & I thought this was as good as you can get
It looked even closer in the flesh so out with the stripper & the frame & forks were soon back to bare metal. Whilst at it the bars & mud guards were also stripped
At some point this bike had been used in a ram raid, the frame was bent at the lower cups of the headset where it had been rammed into a wall. I managed to straighten it with a large adjustable
So primer, maybe I should have used white but the can said use grey so I did. Then sanded smooth & another couple of coats of primer.
Then started with the blue. As soon as the first stroke went on the frame I knew it wasnt quite right, its to dark. I then compared squillions of photos of blue Grifs & there is slight differences in alot of them. I think the blue fades aver 30 odd years so its difficult to get the right shade. I was pretty dissapponted & thought about stripping it again & starting from scratch, how could it be so different from the first comparison next to the old frame? Maybe white primer would have lightened it a bit?
Anyway, after a sit down & a cup of tea I thought it was a cracking shade of blue, it went on so well, no runs so lets go with it. Another 3 coats went on then left for a week or so to dry. I sprayed the bars & mudguards with satin black & they came up lovely
The wheels, brakes & cranks all had the alloy wheel cleaner treatment & although they are pretty pitted I was really impressed with the wheels. they looked spot on with new tyres. The pedals also came up great
Decals arrived from ebay, really good quality & easy to fit, they are easily the best quality decals ive fitted to any bike. It was still bugging me though that the blue is so dark
Before fitting the decals I sanded the shine off the paint, then applied the decals then lacquered the frame & forks. The outside pic is with lacquer, the inside pic was taken before the lacquer. How different does the blue look!
then after 2 weeks it was time to put the thing together. The plastic around the crank was smashed on the old crank so i bought another from ebay, also a new seat, when the seat arrived i really couldnt think what it could be
No shots on building as it only took about an hour & I got carried away, heres the end result
I just need to fit the chain, tweek the gears & brakes then ride it to the pub, maybe with my wife on the Chopper
Hope you liked it & it brought back a few memories. Ive checked & my cousin doesn't have his anymore!
So, purchased from ebay for £38, this 1978 Mk1 Grifter was just like the one I remember my cousin having. They were either blue or red & everyone knows blue ones are faster
The guy who I bought it from spotted it on the back of a truck on its way to the tip, he flagged it down & bought it off the driver, he didnt say how much he paid for it.This is how it looked when I got it home
I gave it a quick clean, found a proper gear cable, bought new tyres & kept it like that until the Chopper was finished. I then dicided to give it a good go so out with the spanners & stripped it down. Everything came apart failry simply, it took about an hour to get the handlebars out as they were rusted in & the cotterpins were a pain but you get used to that. Your average Grifter is has no respect for a hammer no matter how hard you hit it. Here its stripped
Before stripping the paint from the frame I needed to make sure I could get the right shade of blue. The best selection of colours are from Motaman & I thought this was as good as you can get
It looked even closer in the flesh so out with the stripper & the frame & forks were soon back to bare metal. Whilst at it the bars & mud guards were also stripped
At some point this bike had been used in a ram raid, the frame was bent at the lower cups of the headset where it had been rammed into a wall. I managed to straighten it with a large adjustable
So primer, maybe I should have used white but the can said use grey so I did. Then sanded smooth & another couple of coats of primer.
Then started with the blue. As soon as the first stroke went on the frame I knew it wasnt quite right, its to dark. I then compared squillions of photos of blue Grifs & there is slight differences in alot of them. I think the blue fades aver 30 odd years so its difficult to get the right shade. I was pretty dissapponted & thought about stripping it again & starting from scratch, how could it be so different from the first comparison next to the old frame? Maybe white primer would have lightened it a bit?
Anyway, after a sit down & a cup of tea I thought it was a cracking shade of blue, it went on so well, no runs so lets go with it. Another 3 coats went on then left for a week or so to dry. I sprayed the bars & mudguards with satin black & they came up lovely
The wheels, brakes & cranks all had the alloy wheel cleaner treatment & although they are pretty pitted I was really impressed with the wheels. they looked spot on with new tyres. The pedals also came up great
Decals arrived from ebay, really good quality & easy to fit, they are easily the best quality decals ive fitted to any bike. It was still bugging me though that the blue is so dark
Before fitting the decals I sanded the shine off the paint, then applied the decals then lacquered the frame & forks. The outside pic is with lacquer, the inside pic was taken before the lacquer. How different does the blue look!
then after 2 weeks it was time to put the thing together. The plastic around the crank was smashed on the old crank so i bought another from ebay, also a new seat, when the seat arrived i really couldnt think what it could be
No shots on building as it only took about an hour & I got carried away, heres the end result
I just need to fit the chain, tweek the gears & brakes then ride it to the pub, maybe with my wife on the Chopper
Hope you liked it & it brought back a few memories. Ive checked & my cousin doesn't have his anymore!
bang on.
TheGreatSoprendo said:
Doesn't look too bad so I could probably stretch to 20 quid if you were selling? 
You may laugh, they are out there, £16 with 18 hours to go Edited by TheGreatSoprendo on Friday 1st April 18:17
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Grifter-/18064585649...
splodge s4 said:
You may laugh, they are out there, £16 with 18 hours to go
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Grifter-/18064585649...
I'd be tempted if it wasn't in Glasgow.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Grifter-/18064585649...
Amazing, top work there fella!!
Brings back some serious memories - some great, some not so great - landing four square on the family jewels when the gears inevitably slipped being one that sticks firmly in the memory.
If it had the mudguard worn away from motorbike noise copying i would ask if it was my old one - the dent by the headset could easily have been caused by brake failure into tree whilst giving backie....
Bought mine in the late eighties when it was already pretty old, had done the BMX already and thought these looked cool, i mean it looked a bit like a BMX but had 3 ( slightly tempermental ) gears, superb fun!
Also remember the Wildcat, a mate had a similar one which was white ( forget the name ) which had a built in radio on the console as well as effects noises - the height of cool to your average 8yr old.
Happy days
Brings back some serious memories - some great, some not so great - landing four square on the family jewels when the gears inevitably slipped being one that sticks firmly in the memory.
If it had the mudguard worn away from motorbike noise copying i would ask if it was my old one - the dent by the headset could easily have been caused by brake failure into tree whilst giving backie....
Bought mine in the late eighties when it was already pretty old, had done the BMX already and thought these looked cool, i mean it looked a bit like a BMX but had 3 ( slightly tempermental ) gears, superb fun!
Also remember the Wildcat, a mate had a similar one which was white ( forget the name ) which had a built in radio on the console as well as effects noises - the height of cool to your average 8yr old.
Happy days
splodge s4 said:
You may laugh, they are out there, £16 with 18 hours to go
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Grifter-/18064585649...
Apparently, the Grifter is "a good all round BMX". Yeah right. They've obviously never tried lifting the bugger!http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Grifter-/18064585649...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
I had a silver Grifter in the early 80's, passed my cycling proficiency on it!
One of the weak areas was the front of the seat, being foam it wore and broke away in lumps thus leaving the metal base
to catch your nadgers on!
Raleigh Boxer was the 'mini me' version I believe?
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/raleigh/19412
One of the weak areas was the front of the seat, being foam it wore and broke away in lumps thus leaving the metal base
to catch your nadgers on!
Raleigh Boxer was the 'mini me' version I believe?
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/raleigh/19412
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