Raleigh bikes ruled from Ronald Reagan's Chopper to Paddy McGuinness's Grifter

They were the must-have bike of the 1970s and 80s, and the machine every kid begged for at Christmas. But now the legendary firm behind them has been plunged into administration. And it has sparked a wave of nostalgia for a British name that once ruled the pavement. Raleigh, the Nottingham bike maker founded 139 years ago in 1887, has been placed into administration by its Dutch owner, the Accell Group, and faces probable closure. Paddy McGuinness used his Radio 2 show to remember the machine that started it all for him. Paddy said: "My first Raleigh bike was a Raleigh Boxer little thing, bright yellow. It was like a mini Grifter. I thought I was king of the streets." In 2024 the Bolton presenter cycled 300 miles from Wales to Scotland on a Chopper for Children in Need, raising £8.8m for the charity. He said: "As a kid, I didn't have much and used to be really jealous of my mates riding around on those bikes.” He was far from the only one, and the airwaves soon filled with listeners recalling their own first Raleigh, from the Sprite that fetched the shopping, to the Alpha with its prized dynamo lights. The bike that made the firm a household name was the Chopper, dreamed up in 1967. Raleigh design chief Alan Oakley sketched its outline on the back of an envelope while flying home from America, where he had been sent to study what teenagers there wanted. It reached the shops in 1969 at £32 a bike, and quickly became the machine every kid wanted. It looked like nothing else on the road and more than 1.5 million were sold. To mark the millionth Chopper, a gold-plated version rolled off the production line in 1976, and it is now kept at Brooklands Museum in Surrey. Former British champion Tim Harris, who won the national title on the Raleigh-Banana team in 1989, remembered its pull on every schoolboy. He said: "When I was nine, any cool kid had a Raleigh Chopper. It was all over Blue Peter and everyone wanted it.” The Chopper's fame reached far beyond the bike sheds, turning up on Saturday night television, with Bob Monkhouse and Anne Aston pictured alongside the bikes on the ITV game show The Golden Shot. In 1995 the Britpop band Supergrass rode three Mark II Choppers around the village of Portmeirion in north Wales in the video for their number two hit Alright, hauling the bike back into fashion for a new generation. A decade later, in the early days of Lily Allen's career, she rode her own Chopper around London in a big yellow coat for the original, low-budget video to her single LDN. Comedian Johnny Vegas is even said to have ridden one into a swimming pool, apparently after crashing on his first six attempts. Famous names keep being linked to the bike, from David Beckham to Lady Gaga and Blur's Damon Albarn. But the fiercest devotion belongs to collectors like Harry Potter, of Barmouth, who owns as many as 70 Choppers. His obsession was sparked by his father, who showed him a 1971 photograph of himself on an orange one. Harry said: "I get up at five in the morning some mornings to clean them, doing other stuff with them. So yeah, it's a big part of my life and I do love it.” Those childhood bikes now change hands for serious money. In 2014 an MK2 Chopper, once gifted to US President Ronald Reagan, sold at auction for a record $35,000 - around £27,943. An unridden 1970s Chopper later fetched £1,250 against a £400 to £600 estimate at Hansons Auctioneers; while a rusty example, rescued from a skip after 35 years in a shed,still made £692 under the hammer. Hansons toy valuer Steve Fulford said the pull was simple, that back in the day "there was only one thing any self-respecting youngster wanted." As BMX fever swept Britain in the 1980s, Raleigh answered with the Burner. One boy captivated was Sir Chris Hoy, who caught the BMX bug at six after watching the film E.T. and would grow up to win six Olympic golds on the track. Sir Chris said: "I then got a Raleigh Super Burner for my birthday and went down to the local BMX track at Danderhall in Edinburgh, and it spiralled from there.” Raleigh pushed further still with the space-age Vektar, a children's bike fitted with a radio and electronic sounds that reportedly cost more than £500,000 to develop. If the Chopper was the icon, the Grifter was the workhorse, the heavy three-speed that a whole generation rode into the ground. "That bike was like a tank on wheels," Paddy said. He recalled the details that set it apart, from the twist gears built into the handlebar grips, to the enormous cushioned saddle. Paddy continued: "You could have had that seat in your front room. You'd have happily sat down watching Corrie with a cup of tea sat on your Grifter seats.” When Britain joined the European Common Market in 1973, the firm built a professional racing team to crack the continent. TI-Raleigh, in its famous red, yellow and black, was led by the Dutchman Peter Post and won more than 900 races between 1972 and 1983. Those victories included 56 Tour de France stages and the 1980 yellow jersey, carried into Paris by Joop Zoetemelk. Brian Cookson, who ran cycling's world governing body from 2013 to 2017, said the team changed how the sport saw the brand. Brian said: "The red, black and yellow colourway transformed the credibility of Raleigh in the eyes of serious racing cyclists.” The team later raced as Raleigh-Banana, giving British riders a home and a wage. Among them was Malcolm Elliot, who turned professional with the outfit and never forgot what the name carried. "To turn pro with a name that is synonymous with cycling and the cycling industry was a proud thing. People knew if you rode for Raleigh it must be a big deal," Malcolm said. The decline, though, had already set in. The Nottingham factory that once employed around 8,000 people closed its doors in 2002 and production moved to Asia. Accell bought the brand for $100 million in 2012, and in 2023 Raleigh reported pre-tax losses of £30.1m as cheaper machines from China flooded the shops. This year the Dutch parent, weighed down by debt and unsold stock, filed for insolvency, leaving administrators to deal with a company that once controlled two-thirds of the British market. Raleigh had put a new Chopper back on sale in 2023 at £950 for buyers chasing a piece of their childhood. Whether the brand survives at all, even as a mere badge, now rests with the administrators. "For an older generation, ask anyone in the street to name a bike brand and they'll say Raleigh," Malcolm said.