Fearless kids flew up DIY ramps and performed Evil Knievel-style wheelies when the bike craze took off in the 1970s and 80s.
Bikes were objects of freedom and desire for youngsters, spawning a handful of homemade dirt tracks built on waste ground across the north and north-east.
To mark 40 years since the first BMX world championships were held in 1982 we have opened DC Thomson’s archives to find young daredevils with energy to burn!
The Raleigh Chopper
The 1970s was the decade when we saw all kinds of wonderful new toys for kids and grown-ups and the must-have bike was the Raleigh Chopper.
With distinctive “ape-hanger” handlebars, red-trimmed tyres and an elongated seat, the Chopper was the epitome of 1970s playground chic.
Indeed an advertising campaign described it as “the next best thing to a sports car”.
The emergence and growth of the Chopper gave kids the freedom of riding their bikes all day until the street lights came on at night and it was time to go home.
When they originally appeared, in 1972, the price would have been around £36 and upwards, depending on which retailer you went to.
The bike had features which wouldn’t have been allowed for safety reasons today, such as a gearstick mounted on the crossbar, meaning children had to let go of the handlebars and reach 18 inches or so to change gear.
The comfy, long seat with back-rest was perfect for giving “backies” to your mates as everyone blatantly flouted the safety warning message written on a tape across the seat about not riding pillion!
“Backies” were not the only source of peril, especially when your “passenger” was leaning dangerously over to one side trying to put a lollipop stick in the spokes of the back wheel for extra cool factor.
There was also the must-be-tried-once “no-handers” manoeuvre, which often resulted in the premature parting of child and front teeth!
They were so popular they were also the target for thieves in Aberdeen.
Young Derek Smith was left heartbroken in September 1975.
His £60 Raleigh Chopper was an early Christmas present but someone opened his garage and made off with the bike which made the front page of the EE.
But then Santa Claus, with a little help from his friends the police, recovered the cycle from the Torry area after the story was highlighted.
The purple cycle was covered in mud and worse for wear following its ordeal but Derek soon restored it to its former sparkling condition.
Millions of Raleigh Chopper bikes were sold in the 1960s and ’70s and they saved the Nottingham-based company at the time, as traditional bike sales had declined so much.
However, it fell out of fashion in the 1980s when the cheaper BMX arrived on the scene, and the last genuine Chopper rolled off the production line in 1982.
The rise of the BMX bike
The trend was noted by the film director Steven Spielberg, who featured the bikes in memorable scenes in his 1982 blockbuster E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, effectively triggering a new trend that saw a surge in BMX production.
It soon became a slice of ’80s youth culture and there were further big-screen films including 1983’s BMX Bandits starring a 16-year-old Nicole Kidman.
Do you remember the BMX bike frames and pointy racing helmets?
Most kids were simply having too much fun to actually bother with little things like helmets in these pre-health and safety-obsessed days, of course!
By the mid-80s BMX clubs had appeared all over the north-east of Scotland and some teen riders were good enough to turn semi-professional.
For those magical few years, BMX was everywhere and meant everything.
When mountain bikes began to catch on, BMX faded in popularity in the 1990s, but recently there has been a resurgence fuelled by nostalgia.
It has been in the Olympics since 2008 and a sport at which Team GB’s Beth Shriever won gold and Kye Whyte silver at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
Now it’s more than just a nostalgia trip!
Do you still own a Raleigh Chopper or a BMX bike?
Let us know in the comments field!
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