MARK 2 ......A NEW HOPE..........

Due to safety standards a redesign of the frame brought on some major changes....Rear dropouts swept to the back shifting the centre of gravity forward for the rider ,The frame change resulted in a much shorter seat making a safer riding position ( not as easy to wheelie as the mark one !!! ) and a new name for the frame 'arrowwedge'. with a design applied for sticker on rear right top tube.

A new rear chrome rack was added ,a square top sissybar ( on later mark ones too ) and welded one piece handlebars were added , to presumably stop the handlebars from slipping ( If not tightened up enough on the early bikes...The two piece mark one handlebars were responsible for many a grazed chin with a home made ramp!!)

The gearknob was changed to a trigger style known as a T-bar sports shifter ( Maybe because many of us back in the day...including me.....thought it was funny to steal the gearknob and leave a very sharp lever sticking up......not too funny if you was going downhill , standing up , pedaling like mad , Flares flapping in the wind and hitting slipgear with only your platforms for brakes...( you will remember !! ) Still brings tears to the eyes thinking about it !!!.....

The colours of the mark 2 were

INFA RED , FIZZY LEMON , SPACE BLUE , QUICKSILVER , ULTRA VIOLET , JETBLACK .

The graphics on the Infa Red model were yellow with a black outline , The Space Blue , Quicksilver , Ultra Violet all had Fluorescent Orange with black outline ( Space Blue and Quicksilver models also had a fluorescent stripe running down both mudguards.....Cool..... ) The Jetblack model was the last colour added to the range in 79-82 and featured well ahead of it's time 'Prismatic hologram' type stickers with a flaming 'go faster' chainguard sticker

I bet many were sold on the stickerset alone !!

Above close-ups of the Black Prismatic stickers....

..............It isn't a Chopper without the REDLINE tyres............

Pedals were changed from the solid rubber type ( mark one ) to Raleigh embossed two piece pedals with reflectors...

HandlebarHandlebars changed from two piece adjustable to solid one piece which were a lot more narrow than the originals and a lot safer .

MK1 bars left, MK2 bars right(fixed)

Sissybars were now square shaped and not round , T-bar shifter replaced the gearknob , Seats were a few inches shorter ,handgrips totally restyled , Brake levers were changed , new rear plate sticker , Chrome spoke protector replaced with an alloy one and rear dropouts swept back.

Sissybar MK1 left, Sissybar MK2 right.

MK1 console left, MK2 console right

Mk1 grips(left)Mk2(right)

Above both styles of seatback sticker and difference in rear frames.

The seat strap on the mark 2 was changed to a white strap and featured the words ' This bicycle is not constructed to carry passengers ' I wonder how many took heed to the words of wisdom and didn't give 'backys' on their Chopper .....

An example of the difference in size of the Mark1 and Mark2 seat......

The Raleigh Chopper went from strength to strength and eventually the last Choppers sold were in 1982....with an amazing production run of 12 years!!!! The takeover model was the Raleigh Grifter which featured a twist grip shifter for the gears and sported two twenty inch wheels ( the BMX built like a tank ! )

Click Yoda to go to Raleigh chopper sprint.........

Coming soon....... ' Grifter....the new successor to the throne......'