Rio’s Raleigh Chopper

How do you approach a project like this? Rio brought this bike to the shop in a terrible state. This Chopper was lying on his basement storage for almost 25 years, all dusted, scratched and forgotten since his childhood years. Now, with his son around the 10 year mark he wanted to give him a special present and what a better time than Xmas for such a gift.

Classic bikes are meant to be passed on. They represent an era of high craftsmanship, when things were made to last for generations.

Our approach to restoring bikes is to keep a balance of keeping some of the era parts and using some new and NOS. We repainted the frame and polished handlebar, fenders, crank etc. We changed bearings in bottom bracket and hubs, also changed chain, brake pads and cable sets. We fitted an NOS Raleigh Chopper original saddle, springs, BMX era grips and few bits and bolts that were missing. Lastly we fitted new Dia Compe brake levers, MKS stream pedals, tyres and we restructure the plastic gear shift box with PlastiDip.

Not many bikes like this will come our way with such a mission from their owner but we are super happy that this classic shredder will ride the streets again.