The Raleigh Grifter was the younger brother of the infamous Chopper bike. Popular in the 1980s it was a chunky, heavy and cumbersome bike that felt more like a motorbike than a bicycle. It really was the only bike to be seen cruising around on in the late 70s, early 80s.
The Raleigh Bicycle Company was a British bike manufacturers originally based in Nottingham, UK. They first released their Raleigh Chopper bike for children in the 80s and it was such a huge success that more and more Raleigh varieties started emerging. Many believe that the much sought-after Raleigh Grifter was the perfect bridge between the Raleigh Chopper and other BMX models. It wasn't the intention of Raleigh to eradicate the Chopper, but after the popular BMX was denting sales something had to be done to revive Raleigh.
The Raleigh Chopper was targeted towards younger male teenagers and it enjoyed a position at the top of the range for quite some time. There were limits however. Unfortunately, doe to the limited roadster-orientated technology at the Nottingham factory the bike had be brazed. This meant that it never really stood a chance in popularity against the welded framed bikes being shipped over from the states - it was just so heavy and required a lot of pedal power to build up any good amount of speed to feel the wind in your hair! One positive point of having such a chunky frame was that it could take a bit of battering though - you couldn't offend it by slamming on those insensitive brakes and throwing it down in your front garden. This bike had a heart, but a heart of tensile steel!
Between June 1976 and May 1983 there were six different Raleigh Grifter models available. All kept the same basic shape with large, upright handlebars, crescent seats and rear mudguard but they varied slightly in finer detail.
First up was the Mk1 Grifter. Released in 1976 the Raleigh Grifter Mk1 was available in metallic blue, bronze and metallic red. The Grifter SE came with a black frame and red mudguards. The Raleigh Mk2 Grifter was brought out shortly after in 1979, available in red and blue, although it lost its metallic sheen. Sporting a very similar frame the Mk2 SE Special Edition Grifter was released early in 1980 (although confusingly just after Christmas Day) and was only in one colour - metallic silver. Things got a bit darker and more sinister looking with the Grifter XL out in January 1981 that was only available in black with red mudguards and handlebar tube. The Grifter XL had a distinctive bubbled seat and firey 'Grifter' logo on the crossbar. Finally, in January 1982 the last Super Grifter was released and was available in black and gold or silver and blue. The Super Grifter was available until May 1983.
The Raleigh Grifter had the distinctive styling of motocross and thanks to the Sturmey-Archer 3-speed twist grip handlebars you could really feel like you were on a motorbike when changing gears - a mere flick of the wrist was needed.
With a frame that measured around 13-inches and was made of high tensile steel, the tires of the Raleigh Grifter were pretty big at 20-inches in diameter with 36 spokes per wheel.
Unfortunately, like all good things that must come to an end the Raleigh Grifter was knocked off the top spot in the early 80s. However, at least it was for another Raleigh - the Raleigh Bomber.
Raleigh is one of the oldest bike companies in the world.
The average weight of the Raleigh Grifter was around 35 lbs - that's a heavy bike!
Bookmark this page with:
Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Bobby G said:
I had a grifter and my brother had a chopper, and we used to argue about which was the better bike. They ended up rusting in the shed, of course.
Tuesday October 21, 2008, 09:25 AM
Lesley said:
I loved my heavy weight grifter but my friend had a equally nice chopper, he ran over me at the bottom of a hill and OMG it really hurt.
Wednesday October 29, 2008, 01:58 PM
steve edwards Raleigh Grifter Forum said:
With reference to your description of the Grifter , i would just like to clear a couple of points up , the silver grifter was just a standard mk2 , it is easily confused with the silver se chopper , but was never called an se , and the last of the line of these wonderful bikes i believe was the GS which are now rare as hens teeth , these were black frames with red guards and were similar to the xl .
Other than that it was a nice piece well written , thank you
Wednesday November 26, 2008, 11:05 AM
fitzy said:
what was the smaller version of the griffter called
Friday June 12, 2009, 04:34 PM
EDDIE said:
BOXER WAS THE SMALLER VERSION
Tuesday August 11, 2009, 12:13 PM
max hanson said:
the smaller version of the grifter was the striker and the baby version of the striker was the boxer , i never considered the grifter the younger brother of the chopper , it was technically part of the griffter striker boxer range . The chopper range was Chopper then the smaller chipper , then the baby tomohawk . had all of these and then used to drool over the burner range , there used to be a advertising book for them which had the complete burner range from the mag burner to the much desired ultra burner lol i settled with a night burner with metalic red rim wheels and black frame .
Saturday September 5, 2009, 10:35 AM
carter said:
theres nothing to touch the grifter in style, a true classic pushbike that has stood the test of time, if you own one, look after it, you dont know how lucky you are!!!!
Saturday November 21, 2009, 09:36 PM
Shane said:
just bought a raleigh grifter and after reading this i think it might be a mk2. Im in Australia and it was $30 AUD it looked cool in the photo im now only starting to understand how cool it is.
Thursday March 4, 2010, 03:02 AM
Shaun said:
Ive got a mark1 grifter and a mark 2 stars & stripes,and dose it bring back the good old days.Long live the 70s
Thursday March 4, 2010, 08:06 PM
could anyone please tell me if a grifter was ever made in metalic green ?
Wednesday March 10, 2010, 10:59 PM
Andy said:
I've just finished restoring an 82 XL back to its former glory, it just puts a big smile on my face when I ride it. Its like being 12 all over again!..... I don't ever recall a metalic green one, although my mate painted his green with dulux emulsion back when we're kids.
Thursday March 11, 2010, 07:53 PM
javier said:
i just got one at the swap meet it had a sticker on from a recycling place
Monday March 15, 2010, 02:42 AM
john said:
the Striker was made in metallic green, and i know they made a yellow Boxer as my younger brother had one around xmas 78' while me and my brother both had metallic blue mk 1's at the same time.good days.
Monday April 5, 2010, 05:34 PM
Andy said:
back in the 70's I was into Speedway and the only bike for me was the Grifter. Luckily my parents got me a mk1 for xmas one year and I loved pretending to be a speedway rider on it! It was the nearest thing to a speedway bike I had ever seen. In those days Raleigh bikes were the best designs ever!
Thursday May 13, 2010, 09:47 PM
PETER MARSH said:
GOT TWO BLUE GRIFTERS GOT THEM AS FRAMES AND WHEELS FROM TWO SEPERATE PLACES OVER THE YEARS. I AM RESTORING THEM .WE WENT ON A CHARITY BIKE RIDE CALLED TOUR OF TENDRING THEY WERE VERY GOOD MUCH BETTER THAN THE NEW BIKES .THEY HAVE PROPER BALL BEARINGS AND OILING POINTS. MADE TO LAST.
Friday May 21, 2010, 09:43 PM
carling said:
Nice bit of info there. The mk1 originally come in two colours, firey red a metallic blue. The later 1977 models had the lighter bronzy red colour.
There are a few rare may 76 pre production models which were shown around bike shows and put on display in raleigh dealerships but the main month of production was june 76. After march 77 the mk1 changed slightly having rounded rear dropouts and no extra bracket for the rear mudguard fixing. The silver mk2, blue and red mk2s were launched in march 79 and had mk1 forks and seat. I could go on but im sounding like a complete nurd now so im off to raid the fridge!
Tuesday May 25, 2010, 04:28 PM
Singapore said:
I got mine in pretty dire straits but luckily all the std parts are they. The bike is unique in a way. Luv the riding posture. So far I've yet to meet another fellow Grifter owner in Singapore. I will be keeping this bike and hopefully hand it down to my son, sort of like a heirloom thing. BTW, mine's a MK1.Blue.
Monday June 21, 2010, 02:08 AM
Eamesy said:
I'm not usually one to be pedantic Max Hanson, but I'm pretty certain that the 2 bike 'families' of the late 70's - early 80's (from biggest to smallest) were as follows Chopper - Tomahawk- Budgie and Grifter-Boxer-Striker. Of these I only ever owned a Tomahawk and then graduated to a silver Halfords 'Bandit' , the Grifters' cut-price bastard offspring!!
Tuesday July 13, 2010, 03:38 PM
fish said:
started with a bright yellow boxer in late seventies then had a red chopper then a red grifter the one with the slightly longer mudgaurds . fantastic bikes better than any mountain bike rayleigh rules!
Friday July 16, 2010, 08:33 PM
Steve edwards said:
If you are still reading this try googling raleigh grifter forum, you wont regret it
Friday August 27, 2010, 11:39 PM
Lee Hocking said:
I had the pleasure of being the older brother, which meant that I had first dibs on the following bikes.. A yellow Boxer (the baby of the range), followed by the metallic green Striker (which had the back pedal rear brake and was amazing for wheelies)! Finally, my pride and joy - the MK 2 long mudguard blue Grifter (with the hologram decals, three speed Sturmey Archer and that cool kick stand). The hours I used to spend with father's Autosol cleaning the chrome wheel rims.. I didn't have it all my own way though.. Following years of hand-me-downs, my brother leap-frogged me and ended up with the yellow and blue Mag Burner ;-) As mentioned before I regarded the Boxer > Striker > Grifter range as cousins to the Budgie > Thomahawk > Chopper range, which a few of my friends enjoyed the 70's / 80's with. Fond and happy days....
Thursday September 9, 2010, 09:30 PM
Andy s said:
I also had the Tomahawk when really young, riding around pretending to be one of the cops of the tv show chips. I pestered my parents for ages and they bought me a mk 1 Grifter for my 10th birthday. In those days it was the bike to be seen on with it's rugged style, twist grip gears and the crumbly foam seats and cross bar protector! O happy days
Tuesday September 14, 2010, 09:13 PM
Paul S said:
I had a metallic blue Boxer and got a second hand Mk1 bronze/met red Grifter when I turned 8. I remember being so upset in 1982 when my other mates in the street got the new blue/silver hologram logo'd Grifter. My parents said if you want to wait until Xmas you can have a new one, if you want one now you can have the neighbours old one. Anyway I still loved that bike. Many fond memories riding around Bulkington.
Thursday September 16, 2010, 10:53 AM
Jay said:
Had a metallic red Mk2 a very classy bit of kit. Used to try and perform jumps went as fast as i could at the ramp but usually ended up in a horrible mess, great days.
Sunday September 19, 2010, 09:00 PM
Biker Gazz said:
Thought I'm the one and only owner of the Grifter in Singapore until I read the post by [Singapore - Monday June 21, 2010, 02:08 AM]. I've not seen another Grifter in real life yet, other than mine of course! I bought it in 1987 and have kept it until now. I still ride it around town to do errands. It's an amazing bike! It beats any cheap bike in the street today.
Sunday November 7, 2010, 07:58 AM
gareth said:
where can I get the 1st version of a raleigh grifter? I'm missdin my red 1 from the 70s
Wednesday November 17, 2010, 09:48 PM
mozzy said:
my memories a bit vague,but remember going to halfords in aug 80,for my crimbo prezzy.salesman told me it was either a blue or red one,no other colours,what model grifter did i get????
Tuesday May 17, 2011, 07:11 PM
Paul e........ said:
Just in the middle of restoring a mk1 grifter (in met blue,defo the best) going on 41 years old,lol. Had one exactly the same when i was 8,1978 that was,many years ago,my first brand new bike. Does anyone remember how much a grifter would have been back in the 70s?? oh and if anyone can remember how to assemble the twist shift gear,was not paying attention when stripping it down. Happy memories on that grifter,good 3-4 years before i got my first bmx...ttfn
Sunday June 5, 2011, 08:52 PM
rretro so said:
I have 2 beautiful grifters. a mk 2 blue. and a silver super. both totally original. i love them. my uncle had one brand new in 76 he thinks he remembers my grandad paying £60 for it.
Monday November 14, 2011, 07:58 PM
Maddog said:
I've got a 1982 Super Grifter in silver/blue with the most extraordinary forks that curve miles forward. It's unlike anything I've found online. Does anyone know what it is? I'm sure the forks are the original ones.
Sunday December 4, 2011, 06:27 PM
Why not add your comment about Raleigh Grifter? Just use the form below.