Many of you will have watched and donated to the recent Children In Need challenge by Paddy McGuinness cycling over 300 hundred miles on a converted child’s 1970’s Chopper bike he named patch. Wow what an achievement and he raised a magnificent £9 million.

Back in the day my Mum won an orange Chopper bicycle in a supermarket competition but we were never allowed to ride it and I think it was given away to a local charity for a Christmas raffle prize!

Here at Sheffield Auction Gallery we were lucky enough to have had a very original, un-restored Raleigh Chopper Mk1 in Horizon Blue in our Fine Art sale on 13th December 2024, estimated at £600-700 and then went on to make £1,100 on the hammer!!

Back in 1969 the year Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon the Raleigh Chopper was launched. The unique bicycle was designed by Alan Oakley Raleigh’s chief designer who sketched out the concept design on the back of an envelope after he had visited America in 1967 looking for inspiration for new designs and found it in the “Chopped” motorcycles such as Harley Davidson.

The Chopper was made specifically for children and featured a long “polo” seat with high back rest, wide tyres, a three speed gear stick, a brightly coloured frame and of course its distinctive curved handle bars. These features certainly made it stand out from other popular bicycles of the time and the Chopper soon became the must have and iconic bike with children in the 1970’s. When the Mk1 edition was launched it went on sale for £34 which is equivalent to around £550 by today’s standards.

The Mk2 Chopper was released three years later in 1972 and feature a T bar style gear lever shifter instead of a shifter knob, the seat was moved forward to stop the bike from tipping and a small rear rack was added. Throughout the 1970’s Raleigh sold over 15 million Choppers but by the 1980’s and the rise in popularity of BMX Raleigh ceased production of the Mk2.

After being out of production for over 20 years a new version of the Chopper was launched in 2004 the MK3 but the design was changed to comply with modern safety standards. These bikes were never manufactured in Raleigh’s Nottingham factory but were produced in the USA, Taiwan or Vietnam.

The latest model MkIV was released in June 2023 and Raleigh’s entire stock was sold out within 3 hours.

The Chopper has featured in numerous television series and movies throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s including the brilliant film “Back to the Future” and the band Supergrass were spotted riding them in their music video “Alright”.

Chopper bikes can be brought from a few hundred pounds but the most expensive Chopper sold at auction was a 1980 Mk2 which had belonged to the US President Ronald Reagan which sold for $35,000!

Condition, the colour and originality are all factors which determine the value of these iconic bikes but as always if you need any guidance we are always here to help.