Moultonbuzz

Vic (on a Moulton) knocks 18 min. off

2007 is a year for anniversaries. The Y-frame, Tom Simpson's death and the Raleigh takeover of Moulton have been covered here previously.

In September 1967, Vic Nicholson broke the Cardiff-London record on a Moulton.

In 1962, John Woodburn had broken the record on a specially built Moulton Speed. After the opening of the Severn Bridge, Brian Catt took the record over the new shorter route.

However, Moulton would soon retake the record.

This post on the Phil Bikes blog contains a copy of the report in the September 1967 edition of Cycling.

Making good use of Sunday's strong wind Vic Nicholson regained for Moulton Bicycles the London to Cardiff record.

His time for the 151 miles was 6-14-54 seconds, beating Brian Catt's three-months-old record by nearly 18 minutes.

Both Nicholson and Catt used the newly-opened Severn Bridge which chopped 10 miles off the route used by previous record breakers including John Woodburn's December 1962 epic on a Moulton.

...

With 20 miles to go timekeeper Eric Wilkinson drove past Vic for the finish and traffic congestion was such that he got to Marble Arch with only two minutes to spare before Vic Nicholson weaved his way through to finish there.

Not so fortunate was organizer David Duffield, who lost sight of his man in a traffic-jam with one mile to go.

Visit the original post to read a full size scan of the report in Cycling, September 1967.

New Brooks Products for 2008

Brooks were at Interbike and had some new products to show along with their existing line up.

Their stand included a Pashley Moulton TSR 30 donned with leather bar tape and a Swift saddle.

New leather grips are available.

Each BROOKS Leather Grip is made with a stack of leather washers held together by 3 bicycle
spokes and 2 aluminium rings. This construction enables each of the 2 grips to be shortened
independently to the desired length.

The BROOKS leather grips fit all standard handlebars with a 22.2 mm diameter. They are
available in 4 colours: black, brown, aged (dark tan) and honey.

Download the grips brochure

Of much interest were the fold-up pannier bags. They are not waterproof and probably not much use on a Moulton. They do look good however...

They also announced a new wire basket...

made
of a metal structure, wooden base and a leather grip.
For the use on modern bikes this basket is equipped
with a modern KLICKfix® handlebar adapter

Also of possible interest was a new "Messenger" style bag. This is a waxed canvas bag...

featuring a shoulder belt which can
be easily secured around the waist while cycling.
The belt is the innovative part of this bag. Once
adjusted to the desired length, depending on the
height and waist of the cyclist, the belt can be
kept loose to carry the bag over or across the
shoulder while walking.
For increased stability during the ride, the belt
can be easily fastened around the waist simply
pulling the two ends of the belt and locking them
at the center with the “Sam Brown” fixing.

Other products to look out for in the near future are a laptop bag, a waterproof tote shopping bag (designed to fit perfectly into the wire basket), new handlebar bags and rear panniers.

The product section on Brooks' website has not yet been updated but the details (along with brochures) are available on the News/Press page.

Brooks 2008 Cycle Bags and Accoutrements Brochure

Brooks Leather Grips Brochure

Mr Pedersen: A Man of Genius

A new version of the David Evans book Ingenious Mr Pedersen, is to be published shortly with the new name Mr Pedersen: A Man of Genius.

As he strode through the town in Norfolk Jacket, tall, long black beard blowing in the win, lost in thought and heeding no one, he carried with him the aroma of strong, sweet coffee. Mikael Pedersen was different. Born near Roskilde, in Denmark, in 1855 he quickly showed his powers of invention. One idea he patented was a milk separator which revolutionized dairy practice. It was taken up by the engineering firm of R. A. Lister and Co. in Dursley, Gloucestershire, into which town Mikael settled in1889. With him came his genius for inventing and for providing unique solutions to engineering problems. He is known now just for his bicycle of unusual design - the Dursley Pedersen - but in his time he was highly regarded in engineering circles and played significant roles in The First World War. At the end of that war he and his family vanished and the rest of his life was for long a mystery. What happened to him was first revealed in the writer's "The Ingenious Mr Pedersen", published in 1978. In this present book David Evans tells Mikael's unusual story again with very much more information about this highly talented man.

The original Pedersen cycle was patented in 1893 and pioneered the use of small diameter tubing for bicycle construction, which was taken in a different direction 90 years later by Alex Moulton.

After a long period of absence, the Pedersen was then re-interpreted in 1978 by Jesper Sølling, and today there are over 6000 modern Pedersens around the world.

Picture from http://www.pedersen.info/

Curiously enough, around the same time - perhaps a year earlier, Alex Moulton was looking for a new frame structure that would be lighter than his Y-frame.

Alex Moulton wrote the foreward to the original book, and is rumoured to actually own a Pedersen himself, and probably studied it's construction while he was developing the first X-frames in the late 1970s.

The new book is published on 1st October by Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 0752445057.

New Rohloff Speedhub in 2008

Via Hubstripping, The German magazine Aktiv Radfahren is reporting on the new Rohloff prototype.

The new version of the widely acclaimed 14 speed internally geared hub will have a number of changes over the current version:

It still has 14 gears with even steps all the way, but the overall ratio increases from 526% to 580%
The hub shell will be about 20% smaller. Useful for building into small wheels
The weight will be about 1400g, compared with 1700g of the current version
It will not be suitable for use in tandems or other "hard core" uses.
A new shifter will be available, though it's not clear whether this will be an STI/Ergo style shifter for use with drop bars.

The first prototype will be shown at Eurobike 2008.

New Rohloff Speedhub in 2008 « Hub Stripping

Alex Moulton: A Lifetime in Engineering

A new book on Alex Moulton has just been published, and it was unveiled at Bradford-on-Avon last weekend.

It is based on an interview by John Pinkerton in 1998 at The Hall in Bradford on Avon. Some people might remember the VHS video of the same name based on the same interview.

In it Alex Moulton talks about his life growing up in Bradford on Avon, the family business and how he developed a love for cycling and engineering. It contains fascinating insights into the development of the original Moulton bicycle, the involvement with Raleigh, the AM era, as well as his automotive career and life outside engineering.

The list price is €14.99, and the ISBN is 978-3-8258-0755-9. A big box was delivered to the Moulton Bicycle Club at the weekend, and many of these were sold for £5. If you contact Moulton Preservation you may be able to get a copy.
It's published by LIT Verlag in Berlin, Germany, and distributed in the UK by Global Book Marketing, 99B Wallis Rd, London, E9 5LN. It's not yet listed in their catalogue at http://www.centralbooks.co.uk/.

Distribution in the US is by Transaction Publishers, orders@transactionpub.com.