£3,200.00

The Raleigh Chopper

Pencil on paper sketch, 1967

By Alan Oakley (1927-2012)

Provenance: Alan Oakley's Estate

146mm X 89mm

As chief designer for the Raleigh Bicycle Company, in 1967 Alan Oakley was sent to California to observe youth culture, Inspired by the way American children were adapting their bikes to emulate custom motorcycles, Oakley sketched an idea on a scrap of paper on his flight home to Heathrow. This is that very sketch. 

This sketch was then used by the Raleigh Bicycle Company to engage an outside design agency (OGLE Design) whose chief designer, Dr Tom Karen, developed Oakley's idea into the 1970's icon it became.

This sketch is offered with the 'Oakley Archive' which includes blue-prints, newspaper cuttings, build specifications, press releases, further sketches and drawings and a letter from the former Managing Director and Chairman of Raleigh outlining why they sent Alan to America, discussing the famous 'flight sketch' and how Raleigh got the chopper to market in the US and then the UK. 

Please contact us for full details.