BMX General > BMX Chat
Raleigh Grifters
magna13:
--- Quote from: pickle on May 29, 2008, 02:05 PM ---which goes to show just how wrong Raliegh got it BITD.....if they'd put a bit more thought and effort in they would've come up with something that weighed less than a super tanker! why the hell did they continue making and selling them even after they'd released the Burner? talk about bad management! they brought out the Burner which had poor quality welding and bad geometry......then fooked it up completely when they brought out the MKII...........no wonder they nearly went under
--- End quote ---
got to admit pickle i totally agree with you on everything you said but 'Raleigh' must of done something good because they cornered 50% of the BMX market in '82 to '83 and selling over 1 million burner units... even if the bikes wernt that good the grifter and burner was the gate to young kiddies a Facebook group and they are RAD for just doing that!
adam01:
--- Quote from: jimwise68 on May 29, 2008, 02:36 PM ---Grifters rocked. When they came out there was no sign of BMXs, so we had no idea they were bad. But when I got mine on Christmas morning i was well chuffed.
I had a light metallic blue one (MK I). Loved that bike, flap the soft plastic up under the mudguard to make it sound like a motorbike, leave it in "slip" gear when you left it outside the shop so no one could ride it away (swift trick that).
The biggest problem i remember was, when the tyres wore out you could never find the same type of tyre :crazy2:
I wore my tyres out doing HUUGGEEE skids in a gravel trap at the bottom of our road. They were the days, long hot summers and all that :smitten:
--- End quote ---
EXCELLENT
you said it all in one sentence class
AD
magna13:
--- Quote from: adam01 on May 29, 2008, 02:41 PM ---
--- Quote from: jimwise68 on May 29, 2008, 02:36 PM ---Grifters rocked. When they came out there was no sign of BMXs, so we had no idea they were bad. But when I got mine on Christmas morning i was well chuffed.
I had a light metallic blue one (MK I). Loved that bike, flap the soft plastic up under the mudguard to make it sound like a motorbike, leave it in "slip" gear when you left it outside the shop so no one could ride it away (swift trick that).
The biggest problem i remember was, when the tyres wore out you could never find the same type of tyre :crazy2:
I wore my tyres out doing HUUGGEEE skids in a gravel trap at the bottom of our road. They were the days, long hot summers and all that :smitten:
--- End quote ---
EXCELLENT
you said it all in one sentence class
AD
--- End quote ---
:daumenhoch: :daumenhoch:
ripper:
The Grifter was an ace of it's time.
My pre BMX day memories were those of curling the rubber part of the mudguard onto the tyre so it sounded like a motorbike as you blasted around the estate.
Soon after the Sturmey Archer toggle chain would snap, these were notorioisly weaker than a tarts ankle braclet, which left no option but to use a spoke coupled with a bit of twisting allowing you to select the gear of choice, so not to be permanently stuck in 3rd.
As the bike aged it was then compulsory to rip chunks out of the foam saddle to expose a very dangerous metal plate which served only to lacerate the inside of your legs when your mom made you wear shorts.
Let's face it they were very heavy and they did look really crap but they did give many of us bike handling skills to take forward on to our first BMX, which for many of us was an even heavier and even more crappy looking bike called a Burner.
pickle:
--- Quote from: magna13 on May 29, 2008, 02:37 PM ---
--- Quote from: pickle on May 29, 2008, 02:05 PM ---which goes to show just how wrong Raliegh got it BITD.....if they'd put a bit more thought and effort in they would've come up with something that weighed less than a super tanker! why the hell did they continue making and selling them even after they'd released the Burner? talk about bad management! they brought out the Burner which had poor quality welding and bad geometry......then fooked it up completely when they brought out the MKII...........no wonder they nearly went under
--- End quote ---
got to admit pickle i totally agree with you on everything you said but 'Raleigh' must of done something good because they cornered 50% of the BMX market in '82 to '83 and selling over 1 million burner units... even if the bikes wernt that good the grifter and burner was the gate to young kiddies a Facebook group and they are RAD for just doing that!
--- End quote ---
I Think THE only reason they cornered 50% of the market (as you say) back in 82/83 was because none of the small bike shops were selling the more expensive exotic stuff, all most people had were Halfrauds or main Reliegh dealers in their towns, or like me.....your mum and dad had fook all money and got a Burner out of the catalogue. i had a MKI Burner GS BITD and i loved it to bits! i would love one now just for old times sake.....but i think if you had the kind of LBS around that we do now i think Raliegh really would've struggled to sell their Burner range. i mean they made the Aero pro, which is a lovely bike....so they must've known their other offerings were just a pile of old tripe?
i'm not a Burner basher, as it was all i had BITD.....i just think Raliegh were so rubbish at getting what the kids of my generation really wanted, rather than what was cheap to mass produce.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version