I found another picture of the Pashley rear rack for the TSR here
As mentioned previously, the new rack seems a lot narrower than the old APB's platform rack, at least when the bag is removed. Part of the rack is semi-permanently attached to the bag, which clips onto to the main rack chassis. This arrangement seems convenient, though it would seem to prevent the use of a fruit box or basket.
My wife had a dream last night, that she found an old Moulton bicycle in a garage somewhere and she tried to "retrieve" it for me.
All I can think about is... what model was it?
In yesterday's Guardian, Matt Seaton mentioned "all those photographs in newspapers and online galleries of people in their wellies cycling through floods..."
Matt continues: "What I can't understand is how anyone would inflict such treatment on their bike. It's a barbarism, like whipping a horse, and there ought to be a law against it. "
While no self respecting Moultoneer would inflict such barbarism on their noble steed, there are those bicycle owners that refuse to cycle their bicycles in the rain... now there ought to be a law against that.
The IMechE Journal of Energy and Power, Volume 20 No 3, 2006 featured an article on Aerodynamic research using the Moulton small-wheeled bicycle.
The abstract reads as follows: "This short article describes aerodynamic research carried out using the Moulton small-wheeled bicycle. Alex Moulton's initial research, applying streamlined cowlings to his early small-wheeled bicycles, is briefly described. His later collaboration with Douglas Milliken is covered in greater detail. Milliken's many experiments with fairings included wind tunnel tests in crosswinds, an aspect of bicycle science rarely investigated hitherto. An important finding was the ability for a streamlined bicycle under certain conditions to sail. The Moulton–Milliken collaboration led to the development of fully streamlined bicycles, using the conventional riding position, which twice broke a speed record."
The record mentioned is of course the world unpaced cycling record over 200m (conventional riding position) in 1985. The speed attained was 50.21mph (80.79kph), the bicycle was an Alex Moulton AM.
Jim Glover, broke the record again in 1986, on a new improved Moulton Liner. The new record, 51.29mph (82.53kph), still stands.
More details on the bike and the record can be found on Doug Millken's site, and pictures can be seen in Tony Hadland's pictures from the Moulton Museum.
At first glance, an F-frame moulton, and a spaceframe moulton have very little in common (apart from small wheels, high pressure tyres and suspension, of course)... I mean in the frame of course. One could be forgiven for thinking that Alex Moulton went back to first principles with the spaceframe design.
Well take a look at these photos from Tonly Hadland's gallery. The bicycle shown is a Y-frame, and it is a prototype from the 1970s that nearly made it into production.
One can immediately see that it is a logical progression from the F-frame concept. One can also see how the basic X-shape of the spaceframe is merely a further step away. Of course, the revolutionary step forward in the spaceframe concept is the application of the geodesic structure.
I recall an interview with Alex Moulton where he spoke about the Y-frame. He gave a friend a Y-frame to try out and to see what he thought of it. His friend told him that it was too heavy compared with the lightweight bicycles that were becoming available at the time. This prompted Alex Moulton to search for a lighter structure for his new bicycle. Whoever that man was... we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude.
Tony's pictures of the prototypes in the Moulton museum in Bradford on Avon show the progression in Alex Moulton's design concepts from ideas stage to production.
