Design Management Group

Chopper bicycle

The Chopper bicycle draws its design inspiration from customised motorcycles of the 1950s which had been 'chopped' to make them more distinctive. The story is interesting as it illustrates how a product category can come into being as a result of user customisation. This is referred to by von Hippel as the 'lead-user' phenomenon.

In the early 1960's some kids in California were starting to customise bikes with elongated 'polo' saddles and 'ape-hanger' handlebars. A couple of US bicycle firms started to take notice, and in June 1963 the Schwinn Stingray was launched.

UK firm Raleigh followed the trend with a 'copy' of the Stingray - the Raleigh Rodeo - which appeared in the US in 1966. This had a 3-speed rear hub changed by a gearshift stick mounted on the frame.

Raleigh followed up with the Fireball in 1968. Schwinn also launched a new range (the Krate) and this came to dominate the market. Raleigh resolved to design its own new bike for the US market and the Raleigh Chopper was born.

Although there is some dispute over who was responsible for the design of the Raleigh Chopper (since Raleigh had been working with Tom Karen of design firm Ogle Design), either way it is clearly based on the earlier US models.

The Raleigh Chopper appeared in the US in September 1968, but by then the market was crowded with ape-hanger bikes, and it made little impact. It was a different matter in the UK however, where nothing like it was available. Raleigh launched the Chopper in the UK in September 1969, the same year in which the film Easy Rider appeared. It was an immediate success, selling at a premium price of £32. (Raleigh's previous top-range child's bike cost £20).

In its ten-year production run, 1.5m units were sold in the UK alone. Now, Raleigh are planning to reintroduce the Chopper in 2004, citing the demand for 'retro' style products.

Chopper history draws on text by "Catfood Rob" at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/history/history9.html

Further information

• Pre-chopper history from www.raleighchopper.info
• The New England Bicycle Museum has more interesting chopper bike pictures
• Raleigh Chopper Owners' Club
• Raleigh website
• von Hippel, Eric (1986) Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts, Management Science 32(7):791-805.

Further reading

Note: these may be hard to find

• Fried, L. (1997) Schwinn Sting-ray, MBI Publishing, Osceola, WI
• Crown, J and Coleman, G.(1996) No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, an American Institution , Henry Holt

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