At the end of the 1960s the 6-speed gear system was an unusual phenomenon, making the Moulton Speedsix twice as exotic. It was ahead of its time in its gear-shift technology, although in its design it was very contemporary. The Moultons from the first years of production were rather unexciting mass-market goods, but with the leap to high-end, small series production in the 1980s their street credentials went up.

The bicycle featured here is one of only 600 or so produced, and is number K65310046.

1965, GBR
Frame: Steel varnished
Bicycle gearing:
Brakes: Rim Side Pull / Rim Side Pull
Tyres: 17“ Wired Tyre / 17“ Wired Tyre
Weight: 29,32 lbs

Also in the collection, but not included in the book are a Mark 3, an AM-16, a New Series.

The book is published by Thames & Hudson and the ISBNs are 0500515581, 9780500515587.

The official launch of Cyclepedia: A Tour of Iconic Bicycle Designs is in London on Wednesday March 16th 2011 AT 18:30 at Look Mum No Hands! 49 Old Street, London ED1V9HX.

Jack Thurston, presenter of The Bike Show will be in conversation with Michael Embacher, looking and talking through their favourite bicycles in the collection. Given that Jack is a Moultoneer himself, you can expect the conversation will cover at least one of the Moultons.

From EMBACHER/COLLECTION – ALEX MOULTON Speed Six.

The story of this unique Moulton is told as follows:

A unique piece made of titanium

Mike Augspurger’s company ‘One Off’ in Florence, Massachusetts, specializes in producing unique, made to measure pieces. This includes not only bicycles, for example, but also wheelchairs. The common denominator in these products is the material; One Off favours titanium, thought to be the most promising for future high end bicycles. In 1991 Mike Augspurger made the acquaintance of cyclist Alex Moulton. Their friendship was deepened through cycling trips, and the next One Off idea developed.

Augspurger wanted to produce a Moulton AM from titanium with a frame that could not be separated, and his friend supported the project and supplied special Moulton parts. Only a couple of months later the new frame stood on the weighing scales. It proved to be 500 grams lighter than a Moulton AM Speed stainless steel frame but likewise could not be separated.

Then the project came to a halt. It was only the second owner of One Off who completed the frame and fork to make the bicycle rideable. The Zzipper fairing provides better aerodynamics and the cycle’s frame is just as torsionally rigid as its stainless steel cousins. They produced only one piece, and it is the bicycle featured here. Alex Moulton was rather cautious of allowing others to manufacture frames using his design. He subsequently agreed to no more experiments of this kind.

Cyclepedia: A Tour of Iconic Bicycle Designs will be launched in London on Wednesday March 16th 2011 AT 18:30 at Look Mum No Hands! 49 Old Street, London ED1V9HX.

More photos are available on Michael Embacher’s site

I woke early and walked into Bradford on Avon to purchase some items for breakfast. When I returned the place was buzzing with activity. The Bring and Buy sale was packed with club members hoping to find spare parts, wheels, racks, tyres, books and even whole bicycles. I needed to travel light, so I resisted temptation and only bought some spare tyres at the Moulton Bicycle Company table.

Outside, members mingled and chatted about their purchases, discussed bikes, modifications and accessories. The Moulton Bicycle Company opened up the shop, and put many models on display. Club members were treated to the TSR2, the new Moulton Speed, the AM20-2 with lighter, more compact frame, as well as many more established models.

In the afternoon, the crowd gathered round for the expert discussion in glorious sunshine. Alex Moulton arrived on his New Series Pylon, and to everyone’s delight, he circled the courtyard several time on his Pylon, before taking his seat. Tony Hadland welcomed everyone, and introduced the first guest, Jim Glover, who famously set a speed record of over 51mph on a Moulton in 1986, which has never been broken.

Jim entertainingly told the story of how he got involved with the record breaking attempts and some of the problems and incidents along the way. One such problem during testing was with steering stability at high speed – Moultons are designed to be maneuverable – which was temporarily solved by attaching a bungee cord to the front forks to act as a steering damper. Alex interrupted to inisist that this was not a proper solution, and that reversing the forks to create a large trail was the correct solution.

Several members brought along examples of the S range of Moulton bicycles from the 1960s. The S range was built by Jack Lauterwasser in a separate premises in Bradford on Avon. The S range was built to a higher specification than the normal range, and were built to order, so many variations occur. The experts estimated that “hundreds rather than thousands” were made, and probably as few as “low hundreds”.

An S Deluxe, several S safaris and an S Stowaway were shown by members, and tales of their acquisitions were told. Only one was bought for a high price on ebay, and several were bought in poor condition including one that had it’s original chrome covered with black paint, which probably served to protect the chrome for years before Nitromors helped reveal it’s original glory.

The subject of friction dampers – which were fitted to the S range – came up, and Alex said they were not necessarily a good idea… “but we fitted them anyway”. He said that there was built in damping in the hysteresis of the rear suspension rubber, and with the friction of the front suspension. Suspension engineers were concerned with additional damping only to deal with the problem of riders moving about excessively, instead of “doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is sitting down and pedalling”.

Several members also displayed examples of the Land Rover APB, which was launched 15 years previously.

Alex was asked whether “docking the tail” of an F-frame adversely affected the structure of the bicycle – a topic of frequent debate among Moultoneers. He started by telling how he was annoyed with John Woodburn, when John removed the rack and cut off the tail of the London-Brighton record breaking Moulton, in order to save weight. Alex had wanted the record to be broken on a standard specification bicycle. He finished by discouraging owners from modifying their frames… “my advice is don’t do it!”.

Later in the evening, while other members enjoyed silver service at the club dinner, I decided to stay in the sunshine, and enjoyed a relaxing barbecue on the lawn.

On Sunday morning, Dan Farrell led our group of 19 on one of the three organised rides. The route was spectacular, taking in country lanes with sweeping views, charming villages, a couple of tough hills and a nice stop for tea and cake along the way in Lacock.

We arrived back at the Riverside Inn in Bradford on Avon in time for a lunchtime pint, and I got chatting to Jim Glover. Jim regaled us with anecdotes about the record breaking rides, and about his current role as a cycling coach in Ottawa, Canada. All too soon, it was time to walk back to the Hall, pack up the camping gear, say lots of goodbyes and head for the train station to start the long journey home.

Every Moulton weekend at Bradford on Avon is special, but I think I enjoyed this one most of all.

There will be over 50 Moultons from the very early models, rarities such as a Moulton Marathon and examples from the S-range, and the latest models including a SUPER SPEED, as well as many specially built Moultons.

A very rare occasion to see the whole history of the development of Moulton bicycles.

The Alex Moulton Bicycles Exhibition
Hillside Terrace (Hall F)
Sarugaku-cho 18-8
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo
JAPAN

Open 29 June to 4 July 11:00 to 19:00

Contact: Dynavector Systems Ltd. (+81) 3-3861-4341
info@dynavector.co.jp

A huge crowd – including former TV presenter Roger Cook – descended on Bradford on Avon on Sunday to celebrate the birthdays of two of the town’s most respected residents with exhibitions on their working lives.

Bradford on Avon Museum’s trustees planned the event to coincide with the landmark birthdays of Marcos founder Jem Marsh, who marked his 80th birthday on April 15, and engineer Dr Alex Moulton, who turned 90 on April 9.

…

To honour the achievements of Dr Moulton, who invented the Moulton bicycle and designed the suspension for the original Mini, an exhibition looking at his engineering career was opened at the West Barn on Sunday, and will be moved to the library foyer this week where it will remain until May 7.

Dr Moulton, who still lives in Bradford on Avon, said: “This was an extremely important event. The exhibition will interest the young people. The future lies with the young people. They must learn to make things.

“It’s a fantastic way to celebrate our birthdays, but it’s more important for the younger people.”

The exhibitions were organised by Bradford on Avon Town Council, the preservation trust and museum.

Read the full article at Designers are toast of Bradford on Avon (From This Is Wiltshire).

Thanks to Paul Butterfield for these photos from the Moulton Bicycle Club meeting and club ride, at Bradford on Avon, on April 25th. The meeting celebrated Alex Moulton’s recent 90th birthday, and coincided with the exhibition celebrating the engineering career of Dr Alex Moulton, at the West Barn, Bradford on Avon.

More can be seen on flickr

Last Friday marked the 90th Birthday of one of Britain’s most remarkable engineers and although the work of Dr Alex Moulton has been involved for most of those years behind the scenes with suspension in general and cars in particular – most famously on the original and iconic 1959 Mini – it is on bicycles and in cycling that the name of Moulton is most closely associated.

Long before bikes routinely displayed front and rear suspension, Moulton was widely mocked by adherents to the conventional bicycle shape but nonetheless launched his high-pressure-small-wheeled-bikes-with-suspension and proceeded to race them successfully in the early 1960s to prove his point. Time-Trialling legends John Woodburn and David Duffield yes, that David Duffield on the telly won records aplenty on their Moultons to demonstrate that lower rotating mass and smaller aerodynamic profile held benefits for the racing cyclist and some production versions furthermore neatly “demounted” to fit into a Mini boot.

Even in those days the Union Cyclisme International UCI was doing its best to maintain the status quo which put paid to the racing exploits under UCI rules – didn’t stop them winning the US coast-to-coast record, though – but by then the bikes were selling in good enough numbers to sell the concept to Raleigh in Nottingham who took over production and immediately cheapened some of the very things that made the design such a success – not least the high-quality, high-pressure tyres which didn’t handle half as well when replaced with nasty balloon tyres. In any case, general bike sales in the 70s were in decline and it didn’t take long before Raleigh’s version of the bike was stopped altogether.

In the early 1980s Dr Moulton reinstated production at his own artisan facility at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire where he lives and this time concentrating on top-notch quality soon had enthusiasts drooling at his ever-more outrageous cycling sculptures. Buying a Moulton really is now analogous to buying a piece of art and cyclists travel from all over the world to collect their new Moulton bikes. The Japanese have a particular fascination with the exquisite little machined details.

The garden party to mark the 90th birthday was notable for two bicycles. The first – Project Sixty and shown here with Dr Moulton – is a reworking in silver-soldered, Reynolds 953 stainless steel of the original “F” frame from 1962 with added details including tweaked suspension from the latest “Speed” model. Ostensibly, the Project Sixty is a one-off birthday present and no one’s confirming it but we can’t see why this couldn’t be a production bike and if it is, we want the first one.

The other and more mysterious bike is far from production and designated “M Dev90″. It has the new-style Moulton space-frame but with its elements made from carbon-fibre rods clamped to a central hub. According to Moulton Developments, “The front suspension system is called the ‘slim-line’ and is a patented version of Moulton’s torsional-shear rubber suspension system. It maintains his long experience in damped anti-dive suspension with rider access for control of suspension movement.

“The particularly radical aspect of the M Dev is that its designer intends for it to be supplied to dealers in kit form – to be assembled by the shop in the customer’s presence. M Dev owners will also be able to choose from a range of coloured anodized head and seat tubes. To find out more about what’s under that dust sheet try here.

Dr Moulton is looking for a partner to produce the commercialized M Dev90 but presumably based on past experience isn’t in a rush to get into bed with the wrong one. But it’s fair to say that 50 years down the line from the declining market of the 1960s, there’s a very different attitude now to bicycles and where cycling is going not to mention new materials and the kind of things we can successfuly make in the UK.

Many happy returns, Sir.

via Dr Alex Moulton gets a 90th birthday present | road.cc | The website for pedal powered people: Road cycling, commuting, leisure cycling and racing.

To celebrate, the new Moulton Bicycle design, which has been code named “Mdev”, will be unveiled at his birthday celebration at The Hall, Bradford on Avon.

The design of the new bicycle is a closely guarded secret, and Alex has described it as representing “a major advance” and “more radical than anything I have ever done”.

I, for one, can’t wait!

The designer who helped create the Mini has described the demise of manufacturing in the Midlands as a “terrible tragedy” and called on the education system to do more to promote practical engineering innovation among a new generation of designers.

Dr Alex Moulton played a crucial role in the creation of the Mini for what was then the British Motor Corporation in the 1950s, along with his friend, designer Sir Alec Issigonis.

The new rubber suspension system Dr Moulton designed made it possible for the designers to make the car one of the smallest ever built, creating one of the classic icons of British engineering. Millions of Minis came off the line at Birmingham’s Longbridge plant until the brand was finally sold, and production eventually closed down.

Continue reading at Birmingham Post – Business – Business News – Manufacturing & Skills – Mini designer Alex Moulton saddened by manufacturing demise.