RIP Tom Karen (Chopper/Scimitar/Robin)

[inconsistant]

Died 31st December 2022. Fascinating Designer. RIP. 

Surely The Autoshitists’ Designer! I reckon most designers would happily settle for producing  one significant, memorable of iconic object in their career, but Karen was one of those few extraordinary industrial designers who just kept churning out classics and is associated with so much interesting design.  Check out his incredible  track record:

Reliant Scimitar GTE

Raleigh Chopper

Bond Bug

Reliant Robin

Reliant Kitten

Aston Martin DBS V8  ‘Sotheby Special’

Anadol A1

Ogle SX1000

Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder

Bush TR130 radio (the classic one all the digital radios are trying to mimic)

Marble Run game

More info here:

https://tomkarendesigner.co.uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Karen?wprov=sfti1

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/toy-makers-uk-tom-karon-marble-run-interview_uk_606f17d1c5b6034a708644b1/

[inconsistant]

Unlike Princess Anne I never owned a Scimitar GTE despite lusting over them as a child. I did however own a Chopper. 

Here I am posing on my new birthday present, about 1976.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/04/share-your-memories-and-pictures-of-the-raleigh-chopper-bike?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[barefoot]

 

I never much fancied a chopper until this picture. It's well worth blowing up and viewing the right way round!

[Wack]

36 minutes ago, barefoot said:

 

I never much fancied a chopper until this picture. It's well worth blowing up and viewing the right way round!

I've got the same picture, apart from it having a chubby 10 year old on the bike 

 

[HMC]

OGLE design indeed

[Bren]

Top tip. On a chopper slacken the clamp that holds the handlebars. You then have ape hangers that increase instability.

I never owned a chopper but rode a mates. I had a whizzwheels bong bug and scimitar - that's as close as it gets.

[HMC]

Growing up in the 80s it was Wall to wall bmx but down my street kids with older siblings often had a few tucked away in the garage, dusty and crispy round the edges, I always liked the design even back then and would take one for a spin, they always felt to have a heavy rear weight bias.

[Dan the van]

Yes indeed,yer bum was pretty much directly above the rear axle as well.And they were rather heavy.I had a blue mk 1 with the round shifter knob.I loved it.

[ProgRocker]

That girl in the black and white photo can straddle my chopper anytime. 

I was too young for Raleigh Choppers but I think I had a seatee and maybe was just old enough to ride one that belonged to a bigger kid on the estate where I grew up. 

Staying with the Tom Karen theme in the early 1990s there used to be an orange Bond Bug parked by the estate's tower blocks.

I love the graphic design of the name sticker 'Bond Bug' on the cars. Doesn't get any more 1970s than that.

[barrett]

13 hours ago, inconsistant said:

Ogle SX1000

Not to diminish the great man's legacy, but that wasn't one of his.

Karen's 2020 autobiography is a great read, one of the most interesting motoring autobiogs I've read, actually. Although I missed out on the fizzy nostalgia surrounding Choppers and suchlike, I always thought the Mk1 Robin was a genuinely excellent bit of industrial design - a lesson in how to work to a strict and highly restrictive brief and create something characterful, charming and fit for purpose. A shame it will probably never receive its due as a design classic, thanks to the generally oafish lumpen proles who populate this country.

[uk_senator]

Great designer. I`ve had a few Choppers since I was about 8, still got a couple.
R.I.P.

[barefoot]

I was offered one, (comparatively) recently for £100 at a Volkswagen bash. It felt as if everything was in dire need of some serious tightening up and having just spent the same sum on a Honda ST70, I declined.

[RoadworkUK]

I've always had a tremendous soft spot for the many, many things he did for Leyland Trucks.

 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

8 hours ago, barrett said:

Not to diminish the great man's legacy, but that wasn't one of his.

Karen's 2020 autobiography is a great read, one of the most interesting motoring autobiogs I've read, actually. Although I missed out on the fizzy nostalgia surrounding Choppers and suchlike, I always thought the Mk1 Robin was a genuinely excellent bit of industrial design - a lesson in how to work to a strict and highly restrictive brief and create something characterful, charming and fit for purpose. A shame it will probably never receive its due as a design classic, thanks to the generally oafish lumpen proles who populate this country.

If there is going to be an electric aftermarket the Robin should be at the front of the queue; 25% less rolling drag, as noted it's a sharp bit of design and the interior is well-utilised.