The younger brother of the Chopper, the Grifter was the cool bike of the 80's. Like the Chopper, the Grifter was a chunky, heavy, cumbersome bike that felt more like a motorbike than a bicycle.
The most innovative thing about the Grifter was the gear shift which was incorporated in to the handle grips and was controlled with a twisting motion.
Do You Remember Raleigh Grifter?
Do You Remember Raleigh Grifter?
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Anonymous
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Yes. I had a Raleght Grifter in the early 80's. I brought it of a friend and it was used and abused a lot, but i had lots of fun with it. Everyone on the block had a bmx's but me and another friend had red grifters. The only problems i had with the bike was, when you turned sharpley around a corner, the gears would change on the handlebar if you held on too tightly, so i took the gears off mine and it was stuck in first gear. It was slow at first but i got hang of it. This made my muscles in my legs very strong. The last time i seen it, is when i borrowed it to a friend and he said someone stole it from his front garden. Yeh right! Yes it was a heavy and chunky bike but i love it.
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Anonymous
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I rode my mates grifter, heavy but so was my 10 speed, for some unknown reason i found it easier to ride up hill than my 10 speed racer.
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Anonymous
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i had a red grifter in 83,i changed the wheels for bmx mags and had a back peddle brake .i do believe i had the coolest grifter on my estate! it was great for jumps and wheelies!,im 35 now,but im thinking of getting one off of ebay.just for old times sake.x
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Anonymous
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I had a red grifter (even though I asked for blue) for christmas not sure of the year, late 70's early 80's. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It was great to ride. I remember the thick black foam between the handle bars, the gears on the right handle, the thick sturdy frame, & wheels. I had it for about 8 years. I left it in the back garden as I was in the process of cleaning it up. I got home from my grandparents house to find my dad had given it to the 'Rag & Bone' man... I was gutted.
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Anonymous
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hi, i'm Antonio from Portugal and i had a Grifter XL that my father, a truck driver, brought me from UK in 1987. I just LOVED that bike and had for 10 years until some b*****d stole it from my garage.. what a sad day.. Does anyone has or knows where i can buy a Grifter XL? Is there a place online or local store where i can find one? Please reply to eucurto@gmail.com Thanks
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Anonymous
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hi people i have just bought myself another grifter , it is a 1981 grifter xl so that takes my complete tally of bikes to 6 complete and four part bikes oooh you just cant get enough of em
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Anonymous
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i had a silver grifter, with black and red transfers. it was a beautiful crafted machine with 3 shift gears on handlebars(i think red blue and yellow). my best mate at the time had one too, we used to build jumps to ride them off, only problem was they were heavy and if you came off them in mid-air you and bike would crash and burn.
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Anonymous
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had a brand new mk1 steel blue grifter for my 12th birthday in 1977. was the best bike i ever owned and that included a brand new chopper in black with prismatic stickers! 30 years later just bought a grifter on e-bay in immaculate condition and its a mk1 in steel blue. memories are made of this.
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Anonymous
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I started out with a blue Boxer before graduating to a silver and black Grifter, it was the first thing I bought with my savings and it cost around ?80. I loved the bike to bits adding various bits like mirrors etc. I then moved on to a Super Burner but still kept the Grifter for my paper round because it had a stand. I ended up selling it to a mate, he ruined it by spraying it blue :-( I loved that bike, I was the only one in the village to own a silver and black one, everyone elses was red or blue.
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Anonymous
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oh NOOOOO you cant do that , its sacrilege they are a rapidly appreciating classic that are now coming out of the shadows of the chopper , personally i hated the fact that Raleigh bought back the chopper and i really hope they don't do the same with the wonderful GRIFTER . ps: these are my views only and should not be taken as too serious
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