Poll: Simple poll
Total Members Polled: 142
Discussion
Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:
I had that siren thing on my light blue Grifter. Did anyone else’s Sturmey Archer gears slip between 2nd and 3rd, risking you whacking your balls on the stem?
Where as the chopper had that very dangerous gear leaver selector actually on the main part of the frame - just right for smashing your 'nads on... WinstonWolf said:
How the f
king fk is the Grifter beating the Chopper? Didn't all you Grifter boys have split seats? 
I’m going to make a guess that mostly, people that voted Chopper are over 53. Those that voted Grifter are mostly under 53. king fk is the Grifter beating the Chopper? Didn't all you Grifter boys have split seats? Just a hunch but would like to know if there’s anything in it....
the Chopper most of us think about was earlier, 1972 ish. Mine was second hand, and I reckon I had it 1975. Hard to know though.
I'm 51. I had mine just before the Grifter came out. That It was second hand is the issue though, I think if I had been getting a new bike it wouldn't have been a chopper. If I had a bike a year later, it would more likely have been a grafter, if new.
I'm 51. I had mine just before the Grifter came out. That It was second hand is the issue though, I think if I had been getting a new bike it wouldn't have been a chopper. If I had a bike a year later, it would more likely have been a grafter, if new.
Watchman said:
This was my not-a-Chopper. It was a Spanish-made "Intercity" which was better and worse than the Chopper. Two 20" wheels were far more stable, the seat right over the rear axle made wheelies inevitable (I'm citing that as a good thing - YMMV
), and the T-bar shift lever was cool.But, nylon shim headset, so there was significant fore-aft movement. If it were today, I'd engineer my own bearing but back then it was just something to live with.
Approx 1979 I reckon.
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. Risotto said:
TTmonkey said:
Ha. I had a Record Sprint. It was lush. Properly linger up. My mate Phil had a pug., or peegot as I prounounced it, not being aware of how to say the name properly.
I remember buying a second hand Grifter at a scouts jumble sale. Pushed the thing home as it had two flat tyres. My god it was heavy. But it was my dad’s Record Sprint I remember best. When I was big enough to ride it, he let me have it. I then proceeded to ruin it, although I dragged the poor thing out of his shed a couple of years ago and made amends.
Edited by Risotto on Friday 30th November 21:26
Interesting story with my record sprint.
My mum ordered it off littlewoods catalogue. She ordered it well before September, and waited, and waited, and waited, then started chasing it, got robbed off lots. Eventually a couple of days before Christmas she played bloody hell on the phones, and wouldn’t take any excuses. The call was escalated and escalated. It went to the top.
Christmas Eve the bike turned up out of nowhere after we’d given up on it. I’m guessing some other kid didn’t get their RS for Christmas.
My mum ordered it off littlewoods catalogue. She ordered it well before September, and waited, and waited, and waited, then started chasing it, got robbed off lots. Eventually a couple of days before Christmas she played bloody hell on the phones, and wouldn’t take any excuses. The call was escalated and escalated. It went to the top.
Christmas Eve the bike turned up out of nowhere after we’d given up on it. I’m guessing some other kid didn’t get their RS for Christmas.
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