The younger brother of the Chopper, the Grifter was the cool bike of the 80's. Like the Chopper, the Grifter was a chunky, heavy, cumbersome bike that felt more like a motorbike than a bicycle.
The most innovative thing about the Grifter was the gear shift which was incorporated in to the handle grips and was controlled with a twisting motion.
Do You Remember Raleigh Grifter?
Do You Remember Raleigh Grifter?
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shelby1471
on
Ah, the fable old grifter, mine's a super grifter in black and gold with only one gear working at the moment.
I have owned the bike for the past 8 years and is a very reliable well made bike with a weight close to that of the Honda C90 (or so im told as i,ve only ever riden the cb100 so i'll take there word for it!)
I have had many adventures on the grifter including long journeys of 15 miles + and a spot of mountain biking which nearly ended in disaster when i was ascending down a step hill picking up speeds close to about 30mph!!!.
Then all of a sudden as i jumped a small bump and landed the handle bars came lose and i lost control.
By a quick response i managed to stop the weighty grifter by jamming all the brakes on!
SO A WORD OF ADVISE DON'T GO MOUNTAIN BIKING WITH THE GRIFTER!!!
I still says shes the best bike i ever rode nothing compares for sure comfort and build quality!
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Mattpatt
on
Oh man, I wasn't allowed a Grifter 'cos I was too small, but I got the Striker with peddle back brake. How cool was that. I could wheelie it for miles and then do the longest skids in the world. It was Silver, it was the 70's, life was great.
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wolfman7421
on
Which berk thought the Grifter was the Choppers smaller brother? The Chipper and Tomahawk were the Choppers siblings, the Grifter had the Boxer.... I Remember Xmas '79, the first and only new bike I ever had, an original blue Grifter (they only came in blue and red to start with) and despite numerous attemts to kill it, I never managed, same forks, same tyres (you could do a wicked 180 on a Grifter) and a peice of p*ss to wheelie, though most of the posts are correct, you needed arms like an ape for the bars....
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NikkiNoo
on
I had a yellow grifter for nmy birthday in '79 or '80 I thin. I remember going to The Cycle King in The Stow, Harlow to collect it. I felt like the bee's knees
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jake bonnici
on
personaly the only good thing about the grifter was spare parts for the raleigh chopper really the raleigh commando was the bike that took over the chopper.
:P:P:P
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steve edwards
on
i now own seven grifters , and love em all , got the xl , the stars and striopes , the super , the blaze blue , i restore them and belong to the grifter forum on the tinternet
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swr
on
my memmory of my grifter mk1.it was a light blue one from halfords Dartford.I only had it 2 weeks when i feel off because it was wet and those nobbly tyres and bent the pedal arm in so it wouldent go round.I use to do loads of ramp jumps on it. the front of the frame where the forks go in mushroomed out so the head stock use to go all loose.rear mudgaurd always got ripped off.seat split.always snapping toggle chain because putting it on floor.in the end it had chopper tyres.hand painted frame.cowhorn handle bars a 3 speed selector on bottom crossbar.front forks from a chopper whitch were cut and welded to fit the grifter wheel whitch my dad done for me.and when the gears wasent set up propley you use to whack your nees on handle bars or fall off.
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troupey02
on
possibly the best memory of my childhood was getting my blue grifter for christmas,my jaw dropped and the tears came as i saw it standing there on christmas morning ... and yes they were better than choppers ...possibly the biggest argument of the 70's.My parents would say i hope you appreciate it,well now i do more than ever as i know how hard they had to work back then to afford it ,priceless memories and even more priceless parents - steve - t sunderland
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Anonymous
on
does anyone remember the raleigh scorpion Big,silver,three gears on the handlebars,and weighted a ton
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Anonymous
on
While me and my friends always had BMX's, my best friends brother had a Grifter. We would build ramps in the street for doing jumps - unfotunately, due to the Grifter being so ridiculously heavy, he would get the most pathetic amount of air off the ramps - making us laugh. The Grifter was really slow off the mark compaired to our lighter BMX's, but once he got it up to speed it really flew due to the extra gears. Around the time the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was one of the best cars around, so he decided to paint the words "Cosworth" up the side of the Grifter in white paint and would proceeded to ride around making "engine noises" - LOL!
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