I saw some kid riding along on a chopper bicycle the other day and it bought back some great childhood memories. I remember one of my friends used to have one of these, another had a great big heavy thing called a 'Grifter' which was like a mini-mountain bike crossed with a BMX.

I myself used to be the proud owner of a Raleigh BMX which I'd ride everywhere with loads of mates also on theirs. We used to take them everywhere and talk about how good MAG wheels were and who had just got the latest 'Mongoose' or 'Supergoose' etc.


I could only ever do a wheely and a few bunny-hops whilst one of my friends was a real stuntman on his - he'd be doing 360's, riding backwards on the handlebars, spinning the bike around him on just the front wheel etc.

Wow! those were the days!! :rolleyes:

The Grifter was equivalent to a Volvo IMO. I had a Raleigh Super Burner which I chromed down and put mags on it. Loved it.

I also owned a Tomahawk and a Chopper.

Thats right Lickzz! the Grifter was a big bulky thing and we all used to have to wait if we had got to the top a hill for him to come puffing up - pushing it!! LOL!:P

ah yes - them were the days.

There was the Boxer and it's big brother the Grifter.

I had a chipper and then a chopper.... class.

Also had a Team Murray BMX and then a Mongoose.

Mates had several different types. Puch, Diamond Back, Haro, Silver burner etc.

Ah happy memories.

Originally posted by Hippy
ah yes - them were the days.

There was the Boxer and it's big brother the Grifter.

I had a chipper and then a chopper.... class.

Also had a Team Murray BMX and then a Mongoose.

Mates had several different types. Puch, Diamond Back, Haro, Silver burner etc.

Ah happy memories.

Hippy, Mine was a Puch! it was a Raleigh 'Invader' with the small finger brakes!! Do you remember how gangs of schoolkids used to race each other over rugged open land!! I used to love riding down really steep, grassy hills at top speeds .

Those were proper summer's - when we actually got more than 2 weeks of hot sunshine.

Originally posted by Hippy
ah yes - them were the days.

There was the Boxer and it's big brother the Grifter.

I had a chipper and then a chopper.... class.

Also had a Team Murray BMX and then a Mongoose.

Mates had several different types. Puch, Diamond Back, Haro, Silver burner etc.

Ah happy memories.

Yes, the Raleigh Boxer was the first bike I had. I never knew it was part of the Grifter family though.

I had 2 or 3, can't remember the names but it was all fun on the dirt tracks that used to exist at Loundside :clap:

Where did me Yoof go :(

Originally posted by Lestat
.....it was a Raleigh 'Invader' with the small finger brakes!!

Two-finger brakes. Yay! - the first mod I made to my BMX along with a nice set of Oakley grips.

My first BMX was a Raleigh Tuff Burner - the one with the yellow MAG wheels that if they buckled you were supposed to be able to put 'em in the fridge and they would go back into shape (or summat like that?!)

Remember Redline? Another top BMX manufacturer.

Originally posted by Lestat
...Do you remember how gangs of schoolkids used to race each other over rugged open land!! I used to love riding down really steep, grassy hills at top speeds .

But I used to hate smashing my nads on the cross bar of the frame, or on the stem.

Originally posted by Lestat
Those were proper summer's - when we actually got more than 2 weeks of hot sunshine.

:bigsmile: :cool: :thumbsup:

hoooooo how i loved my bmx bike..

i rember it well i had to have the blue one with yellow mag wheels on it i thort it was the bees kneese that bike as not many kids had the style i had,,

it had stunt pegs too on the wheels and we use to go down to the brook on parsoncross/shiregreen to do all sorts of stunts,,

they was the days them

My parents wouldn't buy me one :( Child abuse I say.....


had a Striker instead.....

I first had a Budgie, which was like a baby Chopper, then I had a purple Chopper with Orange writing (did my cycling proficiency on it :blush: ) then I bypassed the BMX thing cuz I thought it was naff, and got my first mountain bike, a raleigh Maverick, went all over on that I did...bless.

Did anyone ever use the BMX stunt track near the Iron Bridge at Woodhouse, on the edge of Flockton Park? It had tabletops, berms and lots of other features I can't remember the names of!

I had a Raleigh BMX. Bright red it was, and I used to bomb about the Rivelin Valley on it, or sometimes off it ;) I had that thing for years, and had my fair share of broken body bits (not bones, but fairly serious gashes) from total failure of my fear and self-preservation reflexes. Such is life at 12 years old.

When I was 17 I got my 2nd job (I got made redundant at my first job after 6 months - company went pop) and I bought myself a lovely new mountain bike, custom made from Wilson Cycles (City Road). Chromed oversize frame, big chunky tyres, proper Shimano SIS gear shifts. I still have that bike (I'm now 25) and it still serves me well, despite me piling it into a few walls, trees and, indeed, floors, after a few badly timed (and stupidly high) jumps.

I had a red and yellow raleigh burner BMX! Being a bit of a tomboy I had to have one. There were a few of us girls who got them, we used to go down the dirt tracks and do jumps and wheelies. Some of the boys were very jealous of our bikes!

Fell off a few times mind, and ripped my knees and hands to bits!

Those were the days..

Originally posted by robbie
My parents wouldn't buy me one :( Child abuse I say.....


had a Striker instead.....

I had a Raleigh Strika, it was black quite heavy and chunky for its size, had no gears though, thick chunky tryes on metal rims with big mud guards, twin front forks with black plastic immitation suspension and a large black foam saddle.

It even had fitted one of those hand grips that when you pulled it back it made a motorbike reving sound and also a battery operated siren which made various police type noises, operated by a push switch fitted on the handle bar.

more to the point....who stuck a twig in there wheel spokes to make it sound like a motorbike hahaha


guilty :rolleyes:

And who got the the twig stuck in the wheel spokes and got thrown over the handlebars :D

guilty again :rolleyes:

haha..

and what thick prat kept doing it no matter how much he fell off :cool:

we were poor when we were kids, never had a bmx, i had a green raleigh something or other that my dad built for me, then i had my sisters gold coloured raleigh chic when she got too big for it but she got a chopper :cry:.
imagine a 12 yr old lad trying to look cool on his sisters bike when all his mates had grifters, choppers and the like :blush:
i remember my little brother had his blue bike run over by a milk float in ingoldmells, in the layby at the spar opposite blue anchor pub.oh to be a kid again:(

While all my mates had Raliegh Burners and the like I was forced to ride a BMX out of the cataloge...oh the shame.

For the money my mam could afford it was the only one with 'mag' wheels and I thought it was just the very thing so I got this "Stinger Areo".

It fell to bits.

I can still feel me face burning with the shame now.

Mam told me to look at some of the others with normal wheels that looked "better put together" but that's not a consideration when your a know it all thirteen year old, now is it!

where is the best place to find a bmx now? or buy one! nah just don't want brand new spanking piece of crap.

I had one back in the 80's and still have one now :cool:

Can you remember how things progressed?

From heavy mags with back pedal brakes to the lightweight plastic jobs.

Beartrap and graphite pedals.... wow

Cobra handgrips....

One christmas I asked my mum for a BMX and knowing I always got what I wanted then proceeded to tell all my mates I was getting one, they were as jealous as hell!.....Then came xmas morning and I ripped off all the paper to find.............a bloody fold-up bike!! oh the shame, I cried for weeks. My mum said she didnt think BMX's suited girls! The amount of times I tried to swap the flaming thing. Luckily me mate had a grifter and BMX so I nicked his Grifter. They were quite heavy bikes but had a better status than a sodding fold-up!

Originally posted by MTheo
more to the point....who stuck a twig in there wheel spokes to make it sound like a motorbike hahaha


guilty :rolleyes:

Yep, I did that. I also used to have one of those siren things, that made the sound of ambulance's, fire engines and police cars.

Yeah i used too own a raleigh mongoose a white 1 with black mags bright yellow grips and trick nuts like scaffolding bars but i always wanted a motorx bike so i jammed a can in the back wheel too try and recreate the sound.:D

Had one..still got one.

Sheffield Dirt Society (http://www.dirtsociety.com)

Anyone remember the film 'BMX Bandit's' featuring a very young Nicole Kidman!! :cool: I sooooooooo wanted to be a BMX Bandit!:blush: