BoA 2007: More details on the Esprit

The wider frame and narrower tubing give a frame that's lighter, yet stiffer...

HED aero wheels only 2 ozs heavier than standard wheels...

Shimano 105 chainring and rear mech, Capreo freehub and cassette, Ultegra front mech (except on the model with the Mosquito bars which had a single chainring)...

Mosquito bars, Shimano Dura Ace downtube shifer (used as a thumb shifer), Cane Creek reverse action brake levers and a newly blackened stem...

Tapered forks, but not like the 1980s...

The fixed frame frame was not on show... all three demo bikes were separable...

BoA 2007: Pashley Moulton TSR in custom colours and finishes

Lots of colours and finishes for the TSR at BoA. Alex Moulton, who happened to be walking past was very impressed and took some time to study them in detail.

The pink TSR grabbed lots of attention all day. Something for the lady who has everything?

A TSR 30 was shown with chrome forks and rear triangle...

... and some deep section HED aerodynamic wheels...

Also, a turquoise TSR

BOA 2007: Large rear bag for the TSR

Pashley were at Bradford on Avon in force showing lots of custom colours and finishes, but more importantly racks and luggage.

The previously unseen large 30 litre bag for the large rear carrier / rack was the highlight.

The bag which has a rigid lightweight frame semi-permanently attached to the outside of the bag, attaches to the rear rack in two stages.

Firstly, the two clips (shown above) attach to the rear of the rack, as shown below.

Next a quick release clip (close to Dan's thumb in the pic below) attaches the rigid frame to the two support struts connected to the seat post.

The quick release mechanism also pulls the rack slightly upwards, building in some tension into the support struts, increasing the amount of weight that the bag can carry, compared to using the rack alone.

The large bag looked fantastic! Excellent quality material (it's made by Carradice), and nicely engineered. It's accompanied in the picture below by some nice pannier racks, and a handlebar bag.

Note also the copper plating on the front forks.

The smaller rear bag for the large rear rack was also on show, as shown below.

BOA 2007: Esprit details and demo

The new Esprit was finally unveiled to the MBC, and there were no major surprises.

Photo: Flickr user Group51uk

Most of it was reported previously here on Moultonbuzz, so much of the following is a recap:

  • It is lighter than previous AM models, due to the lighter Kasei tubing. It has the narrowest tubing of any non-stainless steel AM.
  • It is stiffer than older AM models due to a slightly wider construction.
  • Hairpin construction (as on the ATB and APB), where the narrow tubes wrap around the headtube and seattube.
  • The Esprit will be available in a variety of headtube lengths and seat tube lengths, and a choice of either standard (27.2mm) seat post diameter, or the larger diameter Moulton 31.4mm seat post.
  • Choice of headsets - threaded for quill stems, threadless / Ahead or the Moulton wishbone as per the New Series.
  • The separable model looks quite familiar, but the fixed frame model has a straight bottom tube, similar to the TSR / FX8 / Pylon, etc. Shaun indicated to me that the separable model is more torsionally stiff (due to the angled bottom tube).
  • The wishbone stem is now available in black.
  • Frame skins are available, so you can dress your bike, and change it's dress if you don't like it! Alex Moulton's words, not mine!
  • The HED wheels weigh only 2 ozs (which is about 50g) more than a standard wheel.
  • The Esprit will be available as a frameset at around £1200.
  • Three grades of front suspension are available: soft, medium and hard. The hard is equivalent to a New Series with the soft lockout engaged.
  • A number of racks will be available - if I remember correctly a large platform rack, a day rack and a front rack. The existing AM racks will not fit due to the hairpin construction.
  • The "standard" colour is a the commonly photographed grey, but a choice of colours will be available.
  • Orders are being taken now, and they expect to deliver in around 2-3 months. New manufacturing capacity has been added to facilitate the Esprit, so that Esprit production won't impact on New Series production.

Alex Moulton said that he was pleased that the availability of HED wheels and frame skins would improve the aerodynamics of the bike.

Photo: Dynavector

Shaun mentioned that the reason for the revamped AM was a request from several overseas Moulton distributors. I can guess that these are Japan, Germany and possibly Switzerland. This seems to indicate that the AM is still very popular in these areas, perhaps more so than in Britain.

Three demo bikes were available for testing, and I had a go on all three around the new test track.One demo had the wishbone stem and Mosquito bars. Shifting was via a Shimano Dura-Ace 9 speed bar end-shifter down-tube shifer used as a thumb shifter on the flat of the mosquito bar. I really like this setup. The friction option of bar end shifters is an excellent feature to have when indexing becomes less than perfect on the road. Incidentally, the indexing on one of the New Series demo bikes was terrible!The drop bar models were both equipped with Shimano 105 Sti shifters, double chainrings and Capreo cassette hub.All three models seemed fast, comfortable and light. The suspension was extremely smooth, but plenty firm. Logic was telling me that I should like the New Series more, but the Esprit always felt better. The Double Pylon demo bike was using the softest of the available rubber compounds, so it felt spongier and bouncier than the Esprit, and perhaps with a harder compound I might feel differently.I rode a TSR 27 just afterwards and it felt heavy and sluggish by comparison to the Esprit, though I think it's perhaps an unfair comparison. The TSR was on Marathon Plus tyres, while the Esprit was on Stelvios, and tyres have a huge effect on how fast a bike feels.Also, the flat bars were wider on the TSR, and made it feel less stable. Alex Moulton believes that narrower bars are better on Moultons and I tend to agree.

One of the New Series demo bikes was set up with flat bars, but with a slight angle backwards and felt like a perfect setup for town. Though in what town could you lock up a New Series!

The test track is quite lovely - every garden should have one. There are a number of short sharp inclines and declines, and tight corners. Though a bike cannot be fully evaluated on a short test track, it does give plenty of opportunity to see how a bike feels climbing, descending and handling in tight spaces.

Bradford on Avon 2007

I have seen well over a thousand pictures of the BoA event in previous years, and studied them in great detail. So when I arrived for the first time on Saturday, it looked somewhat familiar. But nothing could have prepared me for the magic of actually being there.

Firstly, the sheer scale of the place is massive. Secondly, how many 17th century mansions will one get to camp outside? Fewer still, where the owner will encourage the campers to move further into the garden!

Photo from BOA 2005, by David Sanders

The weather was fantastic - beautiful sunshine for most of Saturday. And it was great to meet lots of people, all of whom shared a passion for Moultons.

Saturday morning was the bring and buy sale. Lots of bargains to be had, and a few bikes changing hands.

The highlight of the weekend was the Saturday afternoon assembly. The organisers called owners of all the models from the very beginning to line up and show off their bikes. Each model was called individually, and most had 3 or 4 examples for show.

Photo from Flickr user Group51uk

The experts, including Alex Moulton himself scrutinised the bikes in great detail and awarded a certificate for the best example of each model. The parade was cut short due to lack of time, so they never got beyond the AM-GT.

New product announcements followed. Highlights include:
- the new Esprit, the new version of the AM.
- framesets available for the Esprit and the Bridgestone
- frameskins and HED wheels.
- Pashley were showing off a few custom colours and finishes
- The superb new large bag for the TSR.
- Two new Moulton books

There was also a few words from a Moultoneer who had just completed Paris Brest Paris on a Pashley Moulton TSR 30.

I will write in much more detail over the next day or two, and post a few pictures.

Until then, there are lots of pictures on the Moulton Bicycle Pool on Flickr