Surely we all had one back then my age late 40's now or heard about them to this day.

Reason im asking bought a Raleigh Grifter back in June and have restored it to like new again.

Think it was a middle life crisis tbh,only cost me £80 bar MK2 1979, but spent loads on it to get it back to factory settings even though it looks like a MK1 now (shorter mudguard).

Will post pictures as bought and now if anyone is interested??

Too late for me, I had a fixed wheel Raleigh which had cowhorn handlebars fitted to it, fell off it more times than I care to remember, fixed wheel bikes were never made for riding in these hilly parts.

I had a Raleigh Tomahawk , which was pretty much the same as a chopper I think??

my parents were hard of hearing.

I ended up with a SHOPPER.












that s not olden, that s golden.

The tommahawk was the little kids version. Smaller with no gears. I went over the handlebars on mine and needed 10 stitches in my chin.painful when your 5

I had the Tomahawk as pointed out the little kids Chopper I then got a Raleigh Striker XL which was the little version of the Grifter. The XL didn't have the hard foam seat but had a more bmx type seat and a removable pad on the handle bars. But it didn't have the plastic ends on the mudguards which could be bent inwards to make the bike sound like a motorbike well we thought it did!

This is how i bought it



And how it looks today

Bikes are not my thing – can't even ride – but that looks like a really great restoration job.

Thank You took me months to finish but well happy with it,debating now wether to keep it or sell it on the bay there is one on now similar to mine and is up at £300 so far dont think it will sell though as people want to restore them themselfs but you never know

I had been through the Chopper phase, though I'd changed the handlebars to cow horns (remember them ?), and had a Raleigh Commando when the Grifter came out. We'd never see nowt like it, twist grip gears ! Proper fancy ! Think every lad I knew got a Grifter for Christmas that year.

just watch out for those thieving gets trying to nick your toggle chain , had me a red one in 79, also had the a red Tomahawk and a blue commando, ended up getting a chrome burner after the grifter then a few other burners, a falcon pro zeta before getting a raliegh maverick mountain bike in 87/88

Done a great job there Classy Cas!

I got a Grifter for Christmas in the late 70's. They were a remarkably tough bike, only problem with it was the gears...rode around with it stuck in 3rd gear for years, good for building leg strength though I guess!

Yes i remember the cow horns put some on my racer bike back in the 80s to do better wheelies

Quote: duke street 10 "Done a great job there Classy Cas! I got a Grifter for Christmas in the late 70's. They were a remarkably tough bike, only problem with it was the gears...rode around with it stuck in 3rd gear for years, good for building leg strength though I guess!'" Cheers not bad for a 35 year old bike, having problems with the gears at the moment they change fine on the twist grip but the toggle chain aint moving,so bought a new gear cable as the old one looks like its seen its days. I joined a raleigh grifter forum to get help in rebuilding the bike back together some useful stuff on there and some good restorations too. www.raleighgrifter.proboards.com/index.cgi

Quote: duke street 10 "Done a great job there Classy Cas! I got a Grifter for Christmas in the late 70's. They were a remarkably tough bike, only problem with it was the gears...rode around with it stuck in 3rd gear for years, good for building leg strength though I guess!'" Cheers not bad for a 35 year old bike, having problems with the gears at the moment they change fine on the twist grip but the toggle chain aint moving,so bought a new gear cable as the old one looks like its seen its days. I joined a raleigh grifter forum to get help in rebuilding the bike back together some useful stuff on there and some good restorations too. www.raleighgrifter.proboards.com/index.cgi