For Christmas Erik bought me (us?) a cool book called ‘1001 bikes to dream of riding before you die’. We found it on our recent trip to London and I was quite taken by it because if featured not only my Raleigh Chopper but also my Raleigh Wisp.
The Wisp is described as a ‘reasonably priced popular bike with sensible components and a durable build’. The author goes onto stat
e that the Wisp was nicknamed ‘la petite reine’ (the little queen) in France where it sold particularly well (page 169).
The Chopper is described as an ‘iconic and much loved design classic’—I’d certainly agree with that! They have a really cool photo of a model posing on a Mark 1 (pages 120-1).
The book also has one of Erik’s bikes—his beloved Brompton. Not quite the same as the model in the book (page 204-5), he has the flat bar model of this ‘highly innovative ultra-compact commuter bike’.
Kyla
2manybikesblog 