Raleigh Grifter

The Raleigh Grifter was a children's bicycle that the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England made from 1976 until early 1983. It was the must have bicycle of its time and bridged the gap between the motorcycle-styled Raleigh Chopper and the Burner BMX models. Its frame resembled that of the Raleigh Twenty Shopper, but with a front triangle that looked like an upside down Chopper frame. It sat at the top of an age-graded range, above the Strika and the smallest model, the Boxer. The Mk1 appeared in May 1976 in metallic blue or red, with a three-speed Sturmey Archer hub worked by a handlebar twist grip whose second gear gained a reputation for slipping because of a badly adjusted cable. The Mk2 ran from 1978 and brought seven variants, including the XL, the GS and the Super Grifter, along with a longer rear mudguard. When BMX took over in 1982 young riders moved to the Burner, and Raleigh stopped the Grifter in 1983. Early pre-production examples and the 1983 special editions are now prized by collectors.