The Raleigh Chopper

[SR]

I am interested to know when will the Raleigh Chopper 2005, be available
in the U.S.

What is the cost of this bike in U.S. dollars?

Was it build for an adult or kid? Does it come in sizes? Can a 5'10"
tall person feel conformable on it?

And where could I buy it in the U.S. other then at ebay?

Thank you.

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 02:27:22 +0000, SR > wrote in
message >:

>What is the cost of this bike in U.S. dollars?

Too much.

>Was it build for an adult or kid? Does it come in sizes? Can a 5'10"
>tall person feel conformable on it?

For fashion victims, don't know and no, in that order.

If you are that keen find the original and genuine article and have it
refurbished. The new Chopper is as faithful to the original as is the
new Beetle.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

[Bob Parnass]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 02:27:22 +0000, SR wrote:

> I am interested to know when will the Raleigh Chopper 2005, be available
> in the U.S. ...


I don't know the answers to your questions, but you might enjoy
viewing this British web site about choppers and Raleigh chopper news:

<http://www.btinternet.com/%7Eg_coventry/chopperation_go/go.htm>

--
================================================== =======================
Bob Parnass, AJ9S GNU/Linux User http://parnass.com

[Pete]

"SR" > wrote in message
...
>I am interested to know when will the Raleigh Chopper 2005, be available in
>the U.S.
>
> What is the cost of this bike in U.S. dollars?
>
> Was it build for an adult or kid? Does it come in sizes? Can a 5'10"
> tall person feel conformable on it?
>
> And where could I buy it in the U.S. other then at ebay?
>
> Thank you.

Now
$250+shipping
Kids
http://www.cyclesportandfitness.com/chopper.htm

Pete
google is your friend

[willarch]

"SR" wrote in message
...
I am interested to know when will the Raleigh Chopper 2005, be available in
the U.S.

What is the cost of this bike in U.S. dollars?

Was it build for an adult or kid? Does it come in sizes? Can a 5'10"
tall person feel conformable on it?

And where could I buy it in the U.S. other then at ebay?

Thank you.

Now
$250+shipping
Kids
http://www.cyclesportandfitness.com/chopper.htm

Pete
google is your friend


It was built for kids, preferably gullible ones, and was classified in the Raleigh catalogue as a pavement toy.
When my kids were young I used to have a constant stream of their pals coming round asking me to mend them, and they were a pig to work on.
It weighed over 40 lbs, which is a rotten way to treat a poor innocent child. It had different sized wheels, with different roll centres and consequently handled like a drunken duck.
I don't know anyone of any size who was ever really comfortable on one.
Its equipment was all heavy steel of bottom-end quality.
The design was based on the faulty assumption that the way to design a pedal cycle is to take the engine out of a motor bike and put pedals on it.
It was not produced for adults presumably because adults were less likely to be fooled into using one.
I don't have any idea what it costs in the USA but IMHO if the seller doesn't pay you to take it away, I reckon you've been done. If you want to buy one for fun or out of morbid curiosity, go ahead. But I wouldn't recommend one for any sort of serious cycling.

You may possibly get the impression that my experience of them has left me with a low opinion of them. You would be dead right - I reckon they owed everything to cynical marketing and nothing at all to quality engineering.
The output of Raleigh's Special Products Division showed that Raleigh could produce far better bikes than this thing.

[Dave Larrington]

In article >, willarch
) wrote:

> It was built for kids, preferably gullible ones, and was classified in
> the Raleigh catalogue as a pavement toy.
> When my kids were young I used to have a constant stream of their pals
> coming round asking me to mend them, and they were a pig to work on.
> It weighed over 40 lbs, which is a rotten way to treat a poor innocent
> child. It had different sized wheels, with different roll centres and
> consequently handled like a drunken duck.
> I don't know anyone of any size who was ever really comfortable on
> one.
> Its equipment was all heavy steel of bottom-end quality.
> The design was based on the faulty assumption that the way to design a
> pedal cycle is to take the engine out of a motor bike and put pedals on
> it.
> It was not produced for adults presumably because adults were less
> likely to be fooled into using one.
> I don't have any idea what it costs in the USA but IMHO if the seller
> doesn't pay you to take it away, I reckon you've been done. If you want
> to buy one for fun or out of morbid curiosity, go ahead. But I wouldn't
> recommend one for any sort of serious cycling.
>
> You may possibly get the impression that my experience of them has left
> me with a low opinion of them. You would be dead right - I reckon they
> owed everything to cynical marketing and nothing at all to quality
> engineering.
> The output of Raleigh's Special Products Division showed that Raleigh
> could produce far better bikes than this thing.

They were deeply silly and, as a small Mr. Larrington, I lusted after
one. Alas, my parents were implacable and I was obliged to make do with
my sister's handed-down RSW 14. Bah!

Raleigh /did/ spoil it by tilting the handlebars forward. My mate Jim
Milner had a Thing called a TT Dragster, which was very similar but had
the handlebars raked backwards, turning it into a total wheelie monster.
We almost invented mountain biking with this in 1973, but failed because
it was impossible to keep the front wheel on the deck on a bumpy surface
long enough to do certain fundamental things, such as steer.

The "new" Chopper deletes the central gear shifter due, no doubt, to the
activities of Safety Nazis, thus completely missing the point. I
occasionally see the odd fashion victim commuting on one, so I suppose
they do have some value in getting people on "a bicycle".

Just not much.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
The thing about Tony Parsons, though, the defining aspect of his
personality, is that he is a complete ****.

[OldRoads]

The new Chopper is a fair copy of the original. The saddle is really
weak.
We've got lots of pictures of the Raleigh Choppers, Schwinn Sting-Rays
and other 'musclebikes' of that era in our on-line Vintage Bicycle
Picture Database:

Menotomy Vintage Bicycles
http://OldRoads.com