ENGINEERING AND INNOVATION AT RALEIGH
Alan Oakley, chief designer at Raleigh in the 1960s, first sketched the Chopper on
the back of an envelope, on an airplane. At least, that’s the story. Inspired by the
American youth craze for high-riser bikes, Oakley’s re-imagining of the
traditional diamond-shaped frame with ‘ape-hanger’ handlebars, different-sized
wheels and spongy saddle with backrest was as cool as Mark Bolan. It wasn’t an
instant success, but when Chopper sales did take off in the early 70s, the bike
changed the way a generation of British kids rode. It became a design icon. It
may have even saved Raleigh from bankruptcy: 1.5 million Choppers were sold
in the UK alone.
Though good value, quality and reliability are the
foundations of the Raleigh brand, innovation and
design have always been at the heart of the story.
From the start, Frank Bowden (pictured left), who
founded Raleigh when he invested in a small frame-
building workshop in Nottingham in 1887,
encouraged his engineers in the task of improving
both the technology behind and the design of the
beautiful machine.
Bicycle manufacturing emerged from its roots as a cottage industry to become
big, big business in the 1890s. Bicycles were mass-produced on assembly lines
for the first time; the design process was separated from production; specialised
factories supplied standardised components. One third of all patents registered
