Radical 'new' bicycle from Raleigh.

what the hell have they done to the seat??? no more one piece = travesty

gear change = moved to the handlebars = madness

I'm sure I'll think of more

Eh? It's been on the handlebars for years innit!

Probably I'll get one in, depending on the cost.

True story from thee heyday of this m/c - we were lucky enough to get the drop on all of our local competitors when they hit big, b/c we ordered them first & raleigh guaranteed delivery if you ordered - the bike took off, R couldn't keep up w/demand, and we sold fukcing loads of them. Xmas eve, nineteen seventy-whatever, there was one left in the shop. 2 women came in, both wanting it for their kid. They had a punch-up in the shop!!

Late '70's, at the ass end, when they brought the Grifter in (grifter = rub) we had the special edition model w/alloy (v heavy) wheels. We sold it off for jaCK SHIT. nOW WORth thousands of pounds to yer obsessive '70's tat collector argh.

it should be in a panel on the crossbar

x-post to enrique

and 200 quid for a chopper? jeez

Pash - I had a grifter xl (the one you talk about?)

I put red mags on it and took off the carrier on the back and itr was loads better - at least until I got my Kuwahara.

I have a virtually identical one, created by GIANT, that I bought in Spring of 2003.

If you LOVE getting attention; if you LOVE having people follow you to find out what you're riding...and...if you have SEVERE BACK TRAUMA..than this bike is for you!

I have 3 fractured disks in my lower lumbar region and could no longer ride a normal bike, either curved or upright handle bars, for more than 1/2 an hour.

My girlfriend needed to buy herself a new bike and when we went to a bike dealership, I spied my GIANT. I was drawn to it's design like flies to honey. Turns out that the president of GIANT, was in a car accident and could no longer ride his own products!!! He teamed together with his orthapedic surgeons and the group of them created this design. It places NO impact on your back; the support takes the pressure off of your spine. You sit in it like an easy chair and use your thigh muscles more than your knee muscles.

The only down side on a recumbant is that it's NEVER< going to match an upright for speed, and that's because a traditional bike propels itself by using your WEIGHT to create the push on the pedals. Your weight is evenly distributed on a recumbant, so you can get up to 30 miles per hour, but that's the top speed I've achieved. An upright, on flat ground, can get you up to 40 mph.

Is 200 quid going to be the retail price? I didn't see that. I'll definitely get one in then!

Original Chopper prices = madness. 200 quid = a box of bits. NB the originals had whellnuts & seat post nuts with printed stylised raleigh "R" on the end. See them advertised as "unique to chopper rarities" WHEN EVERY '70'S RALEIGH BIKE HAD THEM. Classic scam = buy rsw16 for 10 quid, swap all the nuts for normal ones, sell "R" logo nuts for shitloads of ££$$.

Classic scam 2 = sell "Rare discontinued Chopper red stripe tyres" for shitloads, when they have never gone out of production, and I cd pull a couple of my tyre rach, sell them for 12 quid the pair, and have a new set in from Raleigh in 2 days or less.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.000.asp?model=10786&lYear=2004&bikesection=8836

Pashmina: here's two links to GIANTS site: one is just a photo of the bike and the other is a large article.

Since you own a shop, you might consider this bike. I am truly serious when I tell you that people: men AND women, will stop me at lights, while I'm riding, will yell out to me "What's that bike!?" and I always stop and tell them. If I trust them I allow them to ride the bike and they always come back with the largest grin on their faces! :) :)

The ONLY down side of the bike, is that it's very heavy, so you can't live on a third floor walk up and carry it up, not unless you have two male roommates to do the work for you, and how long will THAT take to get old?

So, I lock my bike up on the chain link fence at ground level and throw a tarp around it for the elements and prying eyes.

(ahem) http://www.r-m.de/english/1_katalog/equinox/index.html

Reportely, the easibike rides better, whilst the equinox is lighter, but much more expensive. the british cycling public are very conservative in a lot of ways, and apart from the folding bikes, which sell on practicality (R&M's "Birdy" model is one of the best, as is the Brompton) or the recumbents, which have their own little following, anything unusual tends to sit on the shelf, looking folorn.

When the owner of my shop rode one of these to a music fest, he had 20 offers to buy it, on site. So, the next day, he took 5 of his crew with him, on the Revive, they pedaled to seperate parts of the festival: within ONE hour, they had sold every one of them! The owner drove 500 mile to another store, bought every REVIVE they had, and sold 21 more in the next 3 days, by biking around the festival! (Taste of Chicago, by the way)

...so OWNZ this thread.

So if the bike is so heavy you further damage your back moving it about, have you gained anything.

The only down side on a recumbant is that it's NEVER< going to match an upright for speed, and that's because a traditional bike propels itself by using your WEIGHT to create the push on the pedals.

Boring bike pedantry and aerodynamics aside, recumbents can be awesomely FASTER than uprights depending on configuration, as you say, on flat ground. Yes uphill bad. Acceleration bad. Riding across USA a companion of mine was on a faired Lightening P41 and despite his fat-assedness and the amazing stereo system he had mounted on it, holding his wheel was a scrabble. Going uphill of course, you realize that he was, in effect, riding a lawn chair, and going about as fast.

Anyone have first-hand experience with Priority Bicycles (http://www.prioritybicycles.com/store), or belt-driven bikes in general? I like the price, but do they hold up?