While at the Show we had an interesting meeting with Alex Moulton who was there promoting his recently introduced AM series of suspended small wheel bikes. It was an interesting meeting for Mike and I as we had been selling a lot of the AMs and had, up to that point, sold more than any other dealer in the World except one in Germany. We were very enthusiastic about the bikes but had one major criticism, that being that the range of gears available with its single chainring set-up wasn’t suitable for loaded touring, particularly in mountains. We had modified a number of them with brazed-on front derailleurs and double chainwheels and also painted a few in brighter, more appealing colours than the standard grey. In fact Ian Austen was riding a bright yellow AM modified with a wide range of gears. Dr Moulton thought we were ruining his bike design and we got into quite a heated argument. He contended that his standard seven gears were ample for any type of riding. I often wonder if he would have changed his mind if he had seen the terrain we were to ride over in the following few days.
via Bicycle Specialties: A memorable ride in the Alps Part one.
Yeah, I recall at my first BoA someone asked about higher gears on the Moulton. He said that higher gears were unnecessary, I think he said, because at high speed people tend to coast, which is mostly but not always true.
OTOH, they do permit a Rohloff Moulton now, don’t they.
I think he likes to give us what we need, and not what we want! I have heard that high gears argument before. It may have been in Bicycle Quarterly. It was pointing out that above a certain speed there is very little to be gained by continuing to pedal. Makes sense, but never running out of gears does feel good though!