Moulton Bicycle
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Moulton is an English bicycle manufacturer starting production in the 1960s. The company was founded in 1962 by Dr Alex Moulton who designed the suspension system for the famous Mini motorcar.
Moulton bicyles are noted for their unconventional frame design, small wheels, and front and rear suspension.
A common misconception about Moultons is that they 'fold' in the manner of more recent designs by manufacturers such as Brompton or Dahon. This is not true, though the Moulton design paved the way for such later designs and various Moultons over the years have been made in 'separable' versions allowing relatively easy dismantling for transportation or storage. Mass-appeal versions such as the 'Standard' and 'Deluxe' were complemented by 'Speed' versions which were used in competition.
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[edit] History
In the late 1950s, after having become dissilusioned with the design of the "classic" bicycle, Alex Moulton set about creating a new design of bicycle. He believed that the classic "double diamond" frame design was inconvenient to mount, difficult to adjust for size, and not properly unisex. He also noted that classic bicycles were uncomfortable to ride without the use of wide, low-pressure tyres which increased rolling resistance. He also believed that the large wheels made a bicycle slow and cumbersome to store.
He believed that small wheels with high-pressure tyres would result in less rolling resistance than larger wheels and less inertia and therefore greater acceleration, Alex Moulton developed a new range of high pressure tyres with Dunlop Suspension systems for the front and rear were developed to give a comfortable ride.
The Moulton bicycle also featured a radically different frame design to the traditional "double diamond", often known as an 'F-frame' due to its unusual structure. The 'F-frame' had no crossbar and could therefore be easily mounted.
The Moulton bicycle was well ahead of its time. Suspension systems on bicycles would not become common on most bicycles for another 30 years.
[edit] Impact
When the design was released in 1962, it was one of the first major innovations in bicycle design since the "safety bicycle" in the 1880s, and made an immediate impact. Moulton bicycles became an icon of the Swinging Sixties and were sold around the world by the hundreds of thousands, and Moulton were briefly one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in Britain. The influential architecture and design critic Peter Reyner Banham, known for his often controversial views on technology and industrialisation, was a keen advocate and user of the original Moulton. Eleanor Bron's 1978 book Life and other punctures celebrates travels round France on an original Moulton.
[edit] Sellout
The success of the Moulton spurred competitors to introduce similar designs, and the competition led to the company being sold to Raleigh in the early 1970s, and before long production of the innovative cycles was stopped. Early Moulton bicycles are today a valued collectors item.
[edit] Re-birth
In the early 1980s, Alex Moulton bought back the rights to the Moulton design from Raleigh, and brought out a new design along broadly similar lines to the original. Aimed at the high end of the market, this "AM" series (which remains in production today) has a highly original "space frame" design allowing high rigidity and low weight. In 1998 the "New Series" Moulton was introduced. This bicycle, similar to the AM, incorporates an advanced 'Flexitor' front suspension system, and a rear suspension based on the unified rear triangle principle. The New Series now includes the 'Pylon' and 'Double Pylon' high-performance models: in the latter all large diameter tubes have been eradicated, resulting in a pure spaceframe design and very low weight.
To bring the new design to a larger market, a cheaper variant of the AM bicycle design, known as the APB (All-Purpose Bicycle), was produced under licence by Pashley Cycles from 1992 to 2005. In 2005 this design was updated to create the TSR, a high-performance, lighter-weight version of the Pashley Moulton variant.
A new model, stylistically and structurally similar to the original Moulton design, is now being manufactured in Japan by Bridgestone. Known as the Bridgestone Moulton, it is built in Japan and then built up in England at the Moulton factory. Like the original Moulton, the AM, and the APB before it, it is available in separable and rigid 'performance' versions. Though a hark-back to the original design, it is nevertheless a contemporary performance bicycle and features cutting edge design and componentry.
[edit] Reference
- Cycle magazine, December/January 2005
