The Mark 1, Tall Frame

Of course I could use the Mark 2 Raleigh Chopper I rode right up Mont Ventoux to tackle The Hour but something isn't quite right about that idea. One hour, one man, one bike, one vision, means that a Mark One must be more appropriate, not to mention some rousing music by Queen. Well, thanks to Barry Gale who sold me the bike pictured below, the Mark 1 is here, in my possession.

The Raleigh Chopper Mark 1 Tall Frame. It's a bit bigger and no less lethal.

I have been asked, more than once, "What is the difference between a Mark 1 and a Mark 2 Raleigh Chopper?" and my research has taught me the following.
Raleigh introduced the Mark 1 Chopper to the unsuspecting UK in 1969 and a rather more suspecting America in 1968. Hailed "The Hot One" on both sides of the Atlantic, it's fair to say that during its life time, the Chopper outsold every other child's bike in the UK but didn't do quite so well in the United States. The relative lack of impact in America was allegedly because of the prevalence of more established, similar bikes such as the Schwinn Sting-Ray and something called the Apple Krate, also made by Schwinn. It is a mystery to me why the Chopper didn't outsell these. Next to the stylish and racey Chopper, both the Sting-Ray and Apple Krate look like something out of a Dr. Suess book: not the least bit cool or motorbikey. Frankly, they're clown's bikes and look silly: not like a Raleigh Chopper at all. Perhaps bike aesthetics are specific to culture. In any event, it isn't as though Raleigh didn't try harder in America. While we in the UK made do with the three speed Mark 1 in six colours, the Americans got all sorts: a three speed version, a five speed version, even a ten speed version, a single speed bike with back pedal braking and a girl specific Chopper with no cross bars. They also got the tall frame, one and a half inches taller than a standard Mark 1 and this is the model I now have. I don't know if the tall frame is more dangerous than the standard Mark 1 but, having ridden it, I'm confident it isn't less dangerous. Mark 1s, you see, are perilous machines, sufficiently deadly to be withdrawn, despite their success, in late 1971.

The contemptible Schwinn Apple Krate (they couldn't even spell crate)

"The Raleigh Chopper is dead. Long live the Raleigh Chopper" might have been the marketing strapline for the Mark 2 if Raleigh had wanted to appeal to teenage cycling fans who are worried about an interregnum; and that's one of many good reasons why it wasn't. In 1972 the Mark 2 was thrust into the UK and the US more or less simultaneously and it did very well indeed. Raleigh's noble ambition was to produce a bike, the riding of which wouldn't result in the maiming or demise of its rider. As a result and to the annoyance of many children, I'm sure, the handlebars could no longer be tilted back. Yes, it may have prevented the rider from going over backwards at the lightest push of the pedals but it was no longer possible to get that proper, laid back, Easy Rider look. In order to limit further the likelihood of leaving the back of one's skull on the road, the seat was set further forward by curving the rear seat stays back where they held the rear wheel axle. Most unsatisfyingly of all, the seat was shortened. Having been the perfect length upon which to sit two people while hurtling downhill at an uncontrollable speed, the seat now accommodated about one and a half. While this modification could have made the Mark 2 more dangerous and therefore exciting if a duo was attempted, it didn't look as cool. The Mark 2 with all its sissy safety stuff wasn't all bad, though. It came in a bunch of new colours including signature "infra red" with yellow lettering; and "fizzy lemon" and "ultra violet" both with day glow orange/red lettering. The Mark 2 also came in various special versions with varying degrees of absurdity including one with a five speed derailleur, available only in pink and the absolutely bizarre "GT Sprint", which had racing drop handlebars and a taller frame, though with all the Mark 2 safety features. The latter has to be seen to be appreciated. It's as though Raleigh's marketing and design departments were experimenting with hallucinogenic substances or at least were on an exchange programme, each doing the other's jobs.

The utterly bonkers and almost unrideable Raleigh Chopper "GT Sprint"

Suddenly in 1973, just when it was all going so beautifully, the American legislature found time in its busy schedule to pass a much needed law against cross bar mounted gear changers. Perhaps it was smarting from its losses in Vietnam, perhaps it needed something to take its mind off the Watergate scandal, perhaps Schwinn had lobbied the government, fearing that the Chopper was about to outsell their silly clown bikes. Who knows? In any case, Choppers were gone from America as quickly as they had arrived leaving American teenagers with nothing to ride but cartoon comedy bikes. In response to the American government, the Raleigh design department, or possibly the marketing department, stood firm and decided that the testicle smashing gear shifter was an essential part of the Chopper's identity. Over in the UK where we are less precious about our reproductive organs, thing were going so well that the end of the US Chopper campaign was not about to upset anyone in Nottingham. Spurred on by relentless demand from British teenagers with no care for their genitals, Raleigh pressed ahead with models such as the jet black one with a sort of glittery exhaust pipe sticker on the chain guard.
The last Mark 2 Choppers were made in 1980, when their heyday was over. Like a great many things in the 1970s including flares, proper sideburns, Muhammad Ali, Opal Fruits, Roxy Music, safari suits, Eddy Merckx, ABBA, Tizer, disco, The Good Life, Twiglets and the moon landings, the Raleigh Chopper represents the very peak of human achievement in its field. It's as though all these things had a collective consciousness and, once the decade closed, simply couldn't maintain their level of excellence any longer. My aim is to recapture those extraordinary times by pedalling my yellow Mark 1 tall frame around a velodrome as far as I possibly can in an hour. It will be an honour to do so and, if it raises some smiles, eyebrows and, more importantly, money for research into the causes of blood cancer, it will be more than worth it.

A wrapper off of some Opal Fruits, the zenith of confectionery. No, they're not "Starburst"