Raleigh Bicycle Company the mid-1960s, TI–Raleigh owned Brooks (one of the oldest saddle makers in the world), Sturmey-Archer (pioneer of 3-speed hubs), and Reynolds (maker of 531 tubing). Carlton, which had been unable to make inroads in the USA market after a failed rebranding deal with Huffy, found success in the late 1960s by recasting itself as "Raleigh-Carlton", a Raleigh-logo'd bike with some Carlton badging, and using the US dealer network to import and distribute bikes. The Raleigh Chopper was designed by Nottingham native Alan Oakley, though this has been disputed by Cambridge designer Tom Karen. The Chopper was patented in the UK
Chopper (motorcycle) racing arena, which placed a premium on pure engine power, rather than handling over curvy courses. Chopper styling continued to be influenced by drag-bike modifications throughout the 1960s and 1970s. While all choppers are highly customized bikes, sometimes even being built from scratch using all custom parts, not all customized bikes are choppers. In Europe at roughly the same era that choppers were invented and popularized in the USA, bikers modified their bikes (primarily English brands like Triumph, BSA, Norton, and Matchless) in a different way, to achieve different looks, performance goals and riding position. The resulting bikes are known