mdev90 – Moulton Bicycle Club

MDev 90: Statement from Alex Moulton

Statement from Dr Alex Moulton 10th April 2010

Dr Alex Moulton the owner and founder of Moulton Developments states that his new concept bicycle, codenamed Mdev 90 which he revealed on April 9th, will be on show at the West Barn, Bradford on Avon on April 25th.

The essential features of the Mdev 90 are:

1.Frame of carbon rods clamped to head and seat tubes made from anodized aluminum coloured to the choice of the customer.
2.The frame can be readily assembled by selected dealers in the presence of the customer.
3.The appearance of the Mdev 90 is slim-line.

Dr Moulton is happy with the Mdev 90 representing his ultimate endeavor of 50 years aspiration to make riding more pleasing than on the classic big wheeled bicycle.

Dr Moulton is in the process of negotiations for the licensing of the Mdev 90.

The Revolutionary Moulton MDev 90

On the occasion of his 90th birthday, Alex Moulton today revealed a revolutionary new bicycle design.

Codenamed "MDev 90", the new design comprises a frame of carbon rods radiating from a central hub and clamped to the head tube and seat tube.

The frame can be assembled by a dealer, in a matter of minutes, with the customer present.

Alex Moulton described the MDev 90 as his "ultimate innovation of more than 50 years of my aspiration to make riding more pleasurable than the 'classic'".

The bicycle will be available in the customer's choice of coloured anodized head tube and seat tube. The frontal aspect is described as "slimline", which presumably means narrower Flexitors, compared with the Pylon models.

There are no details yet regarding the MDev 90 going into production. The press release stated "what I do with it, licensing or whatever, is not yet decided."

While the MDev is revolutionary, it is instantly recognisable as a Moulton. It features all of the principle concepts that have marked Alex Moulton's bicycles since their first launch in 1962, and have been phenomenally successful commercially and competitively.

Small wheels with high pressure tyres ensure low rolling resistance, excellent aerodynamics and low inertia, which allows faster acceleration than a typical large bicycle wheel. Unique Moulton Flexitor rubber suspension ensures maximum comfort and efficiency, while being maintenance free and frictionless.

Moulton bicycles have been successful in track and road racing, broken road records, and still maintain a 25 year old HPV speed record.

They are also frequently used on long distance Audax rides, and world tours, where luggage carrying capacity is an integral part of the design.

Alex Moulton’s new city bicycle can be ready in an instant

Alex Moulton’s new city bicycle can be ready in an instant.

Inventor Alex Moulton may be 90 years old today, but that did not stop him from launching his latest creation, a new, small-wheeled unisex bicycle.

The Moulton bike, which can be dissembled for ease of transport, is a common sight on London's streets. But today he launched what he described as a radical redesign.

The carbon-framed MDev 90 is a more comfortable, slimline version of the bike which first made his name in 1962.

Its ground-breaking feature is that it can be put together by a dealer, anywhere in the world, in about 20 minutes, rather than cyclists having the usual two-to-three-day wait for the shop to build it.

Speaking at his birthday/launch party in the grounds of his Jacobean manor house in Wiltshire, Dr Moulton told the Evening Standard: “We'll continue to make the frame parts in the UK while exporting the design across the globe.”

He said the MDev 90 will enhance the global reputation of UK manufacturing and prod our next government “to get Britain making things again — something which is absolutely vital”.

Popular versions of his full-suspension bikes are still made by Alex Moulton Bicycles, which is now owned by venerable UK bike maker Pashley famed for its classic university-style cycles, and Bridgestone in Japan.

via Alex Moulton’s new city bicycle can be ready in an instant | Business.

Moulton Article in the Financial Times

Saturdays' Financial Times featured an interview with Alex Moulton.

The interviewer spent two half-days in conversation with Alex and described some of his daily routine.

He enters his adjoining workroom, where he pores over papers, manuals and books piled on long tables. For the next few hours, or “as long as I feel inspired and interested”, he works on the designs for his latest engineering creation

It explores in a fair amount of detail, Alex's career, from the family business, through BMC and the Moulton Bicycle.

The Mini’s suspension was a crude compromise – which Lord demanded for reasons of economy and speed of production – compared with the advanced hydroelastic system that Moulton devised for Issigonis’s 1962 1100. That four-wheel independent system used fluid under pressure to connect the front suspension with the rear, providing a smoothness of ride which had never been known in a family car. The 1100 and its successor, the 1300, were Britain’s best-selling family cars throughout the 1960s, consistently beating their leading rival, the Ford Cortina.

Most interestingly, there were hints of a new bicycle under development

a machine “more radical than anything I have ever done”.

...

Moulton has never yet designed a bicycle made from carbon fibre – immensely strong but expensive, and impossible to repair when damaged – but he dropped a few hints in our interviews that carbon composite materials might be included in the new, radical bicycle he is presently designing. “Watch this space,” he twinkled.

Alex Moulton featured in The Architects Journal

The Architects Journal website contains a feature on Alex Moulton, including a beautiful series of photographs taken in the Hall, the grounds, the factory and the museum.

Apart from the usual detail that any Moulton fan will be familar with, it contains some interesting insights from an architectural point of view.

Of Norman Foster's Moulton ownership, the article writes:

Foster's enthusiasm is not surprising: Moulton admits that his newest designs have a lot in common with High-Tech architecture, as they allow pure functionality to lead the form. 'With the first model, I was extremely concerned with appearance because I was doing a really brutal thing; I was imposing on the public an enormous change from the classical bicycle,' he explains. 'So, in order not to offend the public, I made the front and back forks nicely curved, and kept the suspension entirely hidden. But very soon, reality punished me – the rear forks bent.

Alex drew attention to the differences between architecture and engineering:

'Architecture has one or two less dimensions than engineering,' adds Moulton. 'I mean, things don't have to fly or go moving about. The things that I'm working on, mechanical things, they've got function. Architecture is more open to styling, to shape.'

And talking about folding bikes:

It is his quest for the most efficient, most technically brilliant ride that has kept Moulton's bicycles from folding. According to Moulton, the Brompton folds exceptionally well because it is designed for folding, whereas his bicycle is designed for exceptional performance on the road. Rather than fold, several of Moulton's models separate into two – an option he claims will not compromise the frame in any way.

'Scores of manufacturers that make a small-wheel bicycle imagine that they're simply folding bicycles,' adds Moulton. 'It hasn't dawned on them that actually, if you do it properly, a small-wheel bicycle is the best bicycle in the world.'

The full sets of photographs are available on Flickr, here, here and here