Poll: Simple poll
Total Members Polled: 142
Discussion
Jimboka said:
I had a Mk1 Chopper, mustard orange. Wish I’d kept it, younger brother trashed it after handed down!
Elderly neighbour collects & restores them. Believe it or not, he has a Chopper Sprint, dropped bars, still in the box ! Worth a few quid I imagine.
Had to look up the Chopper Sprint. Elderly neighbour collects & restores them. Believe it or not, he has a Chopper Sprint, dropped bars, still in the box ! Worth a few quid I imagine.
That's quite an unattractive bike.
Bit newer, 1987, so I was on a Raleigh 'Extreme Sixteen' in green.
Fairly normal bike, bar the enclosed rear wheel which featured a hole through which if you had triple articulating fingers you are might just have been able to blow the tyre up again.
https://goo.gl/images/NY8JL9
Daniel
Fairly normal bike, bar the enclosed rear wheel which featured a hole through which if you had triple articulating fingers you are might just have been able to blow the tyre up again.
https://goo.gl/images/NY8JL9
Daniel
vixen1700 said:
Tomahawk Formula Three, then Raleigh Olympus racer with cow-horn handlebars and rubber grips. 
Missed out on the Chopper by a couple of years then got the racer just before the 'made of lead' Grifter came out.
Age = 48 so the age to bike thing up thread is quite accurate. Although I have always admired the Chopper, they were cack to ride. Those that had them could never keep up with us Grifter boys, I don't know if it was because they were older and possibly a bit knackered or if they were just cack, the Grifter was king on our estate. The next generation (my 2 year younger brother for example) had Burner BMX's as by then Grifters, although faster were themselves cack compared to them, what with all the wheels in the freezer folklore and stuff. Missed out on the Chopper by a couple of years then got the racer just before the 'made of lead' Grifter came out.
I had two Grifters, a dowdy MK1 one which had a dull'ish paint job then a MK2 which was all sparkly, then, as you a 5 speed Olympus racer. When I outgrew the Olympus, I got a 12 speed Pug racer, a bike I've since aquired another the same as I was a fool to skip the original. I did lust after a Record Sprint with all the 'goldy' bits though. My original Pug had a 23" frame and was a bit small but wish I hadn't skipped it. The e-bay replacement is a large 25" frame and is perfect, I was out in on it today!
As for "cow" horns, I bought a 10 speed "Puch" racer off a mate (circa 1984 or 85 who got a blimmin Record Sprint) and put some horns on it. It got pinched.
Another bike of the time was the Commando, I can't remember if it was a junior grifter or a grifter rival.
What the hell happened to Raleigh ?
Monkey, thanks for the picture of the Record Sprint, still an 'andsome looking bike today. Is that your bike? When I were a nipper my Grandad had one of those 7 seater Pugs, he called it the Pee-erg-eee-ott.
Vixen, the "Puch", or "Poosh" as I think they were supposed to be pronounced, I bought for something silly, like £10 of paper round money and a packet of Opal Fruits, off of my then Record Sprint owning mate. It was nothing special until I added the cow horns.
Talking of which, for those that didn't go cow horn, a massive craze of the mid 80's racer owning crowd was to rotate the drop bars so they were upside down and that the brake levers faced towards you. I never did this as I had two bikes, my 12 speed Pug as my fast and very serious bike and the Puch with the horns which was the cool bike.
And even more talking, today I own many bikes, you can never have too many. The 29er has very wide bars and always reminds me of that cow-horned Puch.
Dare I say it on PH, these days I commute by train and ride my bikes more than I drive! And I still get the same excitment on a bike as I did all those years ago on the Grifter.
Vixen, the "Puch", or "Poosh" as I think they were supposed to be pronounced, I bought for something silly, like £10 of paper round money and a packet of Opal Fruits, off of my then Record Sprint owning mate. It was nothing special until I added the cow horns.
Talking of which, for those that didn't go cow horn, a massive craze of the mid 80's racer owning crowd was to rotate the drop bars so they were upside down and that the brake levers faced towards you. I never did this as I had two bikes, my 12 speed Pug as my fast and very serious bike and the Puch with the horns which was the cool bike.
And even more talking, today I own many bikes, you can never have too many. The 29er has very wide bars and always reminds me of that cow-horned Puch.
Dare I say it on PH, these days I commute by train and ride my bikes more than I drive! And I still get the same excitment on a bike as I did all those years ago on the Grifter.
Love this thread. Was waiting for the photos to appear, but googling images, found this thread. For those that picked option 3, many photos in here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I had a Gold Tomahawk. I vaguely remember there was also a chipper, and budgie?
Then desperate for a BMX, I was bought a Black Strika. Huge disappointment to me. Never rode the Strika, actually chose to walk everywhere instead. This was replaced with a kids version of a Milk Racer (which again I didn't want). After taking my racer to the Skateboard park and crashing it often, I eventually got a Raleigh Mag Burner (White and Green) which I still have in pieces in my garage in the UK.
After that I remember a Raleigh Lizard, and another bike like that (may have been gold)?
If anyone wants to waste a day reminiscing - take a look at this site:-
http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/library/inde...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I had a Gold Tomahawk. I vaguely remember there was also a chipper, and budgie?
Then desperate for a BMX, I was bought a Black Strika. Huge disappointment to me. Never rode the Strika, actually chose to walk everywhere instead. This was replaced with a kids version of a Milk Racer (which again I didn't want). After taking my racer to the Skateboard park and crashing it often, I eventually got a Raleigh Mag Burner (White and Green) which I still have in pieces in my garage in the UK.
After that I remember a Raleigh Lizard, and another bike like that (may have been gold)?
If anyone wants to waste a day reminiscing - take a look at this site:-
http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/library/inde...
This was how I first got my Olympus, in this exact colourway.
Found this picture which came from a forum where there was a bloke restoring it, and he talked about keeping the red mudguards.
They went straight in the bin five minutes after getting it in favour of the tiny useless mudguards.
colin_p said:
Monkey, thanks for the picture of the Record Sprint, still an 'andsome looking bike today. Is that your bike? When I were a nipper my Grandad had one of those 7 seater Pugs, he called it the Pee-erg-eee-ott.
Vixen, the "Puch", or "Poosh" as I think they were supposed to be pronounced, I bought for something silly, like £10 of paper round money and a packet of Opal Fruits, off of my then Record Sprint owning mate. It was nothing special until I added the cow horns.
Talking of which, for those that didn't go cow horn, a massive craze of the mid 80's racer owning crowd was to rotate the drop bars so they were upside down and that the brake levers faced towards you. I never did this as I had two bikes, my 12 speed Pug as my fast and very serious bike and the Puch with the horns which was the cool bike.
And even more talking, today I own many bikes, you can never have too many. The 29er has very wide bars and always reminds me of that cow-horned Puch.
Dare I say it on PH, these days I commute by train and ride my bikes more than I drive! And I still get the same excitment on a bike as I did all those years ago on the Grifter.
Not mine no. Mine was stolen in the 90s. They left the frame which was chained, but stripped all the parts. Utter bVixen, the "Puch", or "Poosh" as I think they were supposed to be pronounced, I bought for something silly, like £10 of paper round money and a packet of Opal Fruits, off of my then Record Sprint owning mate. It was nothing special until I added the cow horns.
Talking of which, for those that didn't go cow horn, a massive craze of the mid 80's racer owning crowd was to rotate the drop bars so they were upside down and that the brake levers faced towards you. I never did this as I had two bikes, my 12 speed Pug as my fast and very serious bike and the Puch with the horns which was the cool bike.
And even more talking, today I own many bikes, you can never have too many. The 29er has very wide bars and always reminds me of that cow-horned Puch.
Dare I say it on PH, these days I commute by train and ride my bikes more than I drive! And I still get the same excitment on a bike as I did all those years ago on the Grifter.
ds. It was done on an Raf camp too so was one of the fellow serving crabs. tt whoever it was. vixen1700 said:
This was how I first got my Olympus, in this exact colourway.
Found this picture which came from a forum where there was a bloke restoring it, and he talked about keeping the red mudguards.
They went straight in the bin five minutes after getting it in favour of the tiny useless mudguards.
And back to the Pug.
This is my actual bike bike complete with sub-zero cool period correct Ever Ready lights!
Eagle eyed viewers (despite the blurry picture) may notice that it is now rocking an MTB triple gearset but retaining the downtube shifters and also upgraded duel pivot calipers whilst also retaining the Weinmann suicide brake levers. The gears and brakes both work very well.
Other period features are the Pletscher kick stand and rear rack, along with a set of blumel mudguards.
I love this bike.
This is my actual bike bike complete with sub-zero cool period correct Ever Ready lights!
Eagle eyed viewers (despite the blurry picture) may notice that it is now rocking an MTB triple gearset but retaining the downtube shifters and also upgraded duel pivot calipers whilst also retaining the Weinmann suicide brake levers. The gears and brakes both work very well.
Other period features are the Pletscher kick stand and rear rack, along with a set of blumel mudguards.
I love this bike.
colin_p said:
Back to Grifters
I had a dowdy MK1 like this, same colour.
Then sparkly MK2 like exactly like this
If it weren't for the foam on the handlebars and the stickers I'd struggle to believe this was a Grifter. The last time I saw one I was still riding my Striker and the Grifter was for the grown up lads. Without the stickers etc I'd assume I was looking at a Boxer - it just looks so small now! I had a dowdy MK1 like this, same colour.
Then sparkly MK2 like exactly like this
colin_p said:
And back to the Pug.
This is my actual bike bike complete with sub-zero cool period correct Ever Ready lights!
Eagle eyed viewers (despite the blurry picture) may notice that it is now rocking an MTB triple gearset but retaining the downtube shifters and also upgraded duel pivot calipers whilst also retaining the Weinmann suicide brake levers. The gears and brakes both work very well.
Other period features are the Pletscher kick stand and rear rack, along with a set of blumel mudguards.
I love this bike.
Nice bike , those lights bring back memories , I had 2 on the front of my muddy fox courier, I thought I was well cool , so big and bulky compared to today's offerings This is my actual bike bike complete with sub-zero cool period correct Ever Ready lights!
Eagle eyed viewers (despite the blurry picture) may notice that it is now rocking an MTB triple gearset but retaining the downtube shifters and also upgraded duel pivot calipers whilst also retaining the Weinmann suicide brake levers. The gears and brakes both work very well.
Other period features are the Pletscher kick stand and rear rack, along with a set of blumel mudguards.
I love this bike.
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