[News] Tom Karen RIP

[Lenny Rider]

Designer of the Raleigh Chopper.

An unsung youth icon, pure and simple

RIP

 

[The Clamp]

A nation mourns.

 

[Lenny Rider]

A nation mourns.

At least a nation of former teenage cyclists

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Iconic bike...but crap to ride. I stuck with my Raleigh Boxer.

The Chopper....not just for kids.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I can still remember the Christmas morning, when my father opened a door to this big cupboard/utility room thing we had and revealed this……

 

[Icy Gull]

I am more impressed with this design of his

and this

 

[Guinness Boy]

Quite a niche RIP even by NSC standards. Sad for his family and all that but it was an absolutely terrible bike. Loved my Grifter though.

 

[surlyseagull]

A fair few kids remember the chopper for its ability to rupture yer crotch on the gear shift when you suddenly braked !!

 

[curly69]

I remember coming home after a Saturday morning cub's game and in the front room was a new just put together by my dad a red chooper best day of my life pre sex.

 

[nicko31]

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[Lenny Rider]

Quite a niche RIP even by NSC standards. Sad for his family and all that but it was an absolutely terrible bike. Loved my Grifter though.

Read HTT's post and I would imagine that strikes a chord with amny a 50 something NSCer?

 

[Lenny Rider]

A fair few kids remember the chopper for its ability to rupture yer crotch on the gear shift when you suddenly braked !!

Didn't health and safety put paid to that in the 21st century reboot?

 

[The Clamp]

To be fair I had one when I was about 7, the delight of being given it outweighed the actual riding of the thing. But I did love it. Then graduated to a Grifter, then BMX then 125cc motorbikes.
Good days

 

[PeterT]

I remember coming home after a Saturday morning cub's game and in the front room was a new just put together by my dad a red chooper best day of my life pre sex.

Just out of interest, do you know which was the favourite day of your life post sex?

 

[Monkey Man]

Loved my new Chopper bike but it was so slow compared with everyone else's bike. Parents spent years paying for the thing and while that was happening I gave up on the bike, partly because it had become wildly unfashionable and partly because that tiny front wheel meant you just couldn't keep up with your mates. Ended up "borrowing" my brother's Grifter, which weighed as much as a motorbike but could at least go at a reasonable lick.

 

[PeterT]

Didn't health and safety put paid to that in the 21st century reboot?

Only bad bike crash I ever had was coming off a friend’s Chopper (the bicycle, of course) in Redhill Drive. Spent a while picking the gravel out of my wounds but it had a speedo and was on something pushing 30mph when I came off! Didn’t try that trick again, much better than a simple Health and Safety warning.