Author: Moultonbuzz

BOA 2007: Esprit details and demo

The new Esprit was finally unveiled to the MBC, and there were no major surprises.

Photo: Flickr user Group51uk

Most of it was reported previously here on Moultonbuzz, so much of the following is a recap:

  • It is lighter than previous AM models, due to the lighter Kasei tubing. It has the narrowest tubing of any non-stainless steel AM.
  • It is stiffer than older AM models due to a slightly wider construction.
  • Hairpin construction (as on the ATB and APB), where the narrow tubes wrap around the headtube and seattube.
  • The Esprit will be available in a variety of headtube lengths and seat tube lengths, and a choice of either standard (27.2mm) seat post diameter, or the larger diameter Moulton 31.4mm seat post.
  • Choice of headsets - threaded for quill stems, threadless / Ahead or the Moulton wishbone as per the New Series.
  • The separable model looks quite familiar, but the fixed frame model has a straight bottom tube, similar to the TSR / FX8 / Pylon, etc. Shaun indicated to me that the separable model is more torsionally stiff (due to the angled bottom tube).
  • The wishbone stem is now available in black.
  • Frame skins are available, so you can dress your bike, and change it's dress if you don't like it! Alex Moulton's words, not mine!
  • The HED wheels weigh only 2 ozs (which is about 50g) more than a standard wheel.
  • The Esprit will be available as a frameset at around £1200.
  • Three grades of front suspension are available: soft, medium and hard. The hard is equivalent to a New Series with the soft lockout engaged.
  • A number of racks will be available - if I remember correctly a large platform rack, a day rack and a front rack. The existing AM racks will not fit due to the hairpin construction.
  • The "standard" colour is a the commonly photographed grey, but a choice of colours will be available.
  • Orders are being taken now, and they expect to deliver in around 2-3 months. New manufacturing capacity has been added to facilitate the Esprit, so that Esprit production won't impact on New Series production.

Alex Moulton said that he was pleased that the availability of HED wheels and frame skins would improve the aerodynamics of the bike.

Photo: Dynavector

Shaun mentioned that the reason for the revamped AM was a request from several overseas Moulton distributors. I can guess that these are Japan, Germany and possibly Switzerland. This seems to indicate that the AM is still very popular in these areas, perhaps more so than in Britain.

Three demo bikes were available for testing, and I had a go on all three around the new test track.One demo had the wishbone stem and Mosquito bars. Shifting was via a Shimano Dura-Ace 9 speed bar end-shifter down-tube shifer used as a thumb shifter on the flat of the mosquito bar. I really like this setup. The friction option of bar end shifters is an excellent feature to have when indexing becomes less than perfect on the road. Incidentally, the indexing on one of the New Series demo bikes was terrible!The drop bar models were both equipped with Shimano 105 Sti shifters, double chainrings and Capreo cassette hub.All three models seemed fast, comfortable and light. The suspension was extremely smooth, but plenty firm. Logic was telling me that I should like the New Series more, but the Esprit always felt better. The Double Pylon demo bike was using the softest of the available rubber compounds, so it felt spongier and bouncier than the Esprit, and perhaps with a harder compound I might feel differently.I rode a TSR 27 just afterwards and it felt heavy and sluggish by comparison to the Esprit, though I think it's perhaps an unfair comparison. The TSR was on Marathon Plus tyres, while the Esprit was on Stelvios, and tyres have a huge effect on how fast a bike feels.Also, the flat bars were wider on the TSR, and made it feel less stable. Alex Moulton believes that narrower bars are better on Moultons and I tend to agree.

One of the New Series demo bikes was set up with flat bars, but with a slight angle backwards and felt like a perfect setup for town. Though in what town could you lock up a New Series!

The test track is quite lovely - every garden should have one. There are a number of short sharp inclines and declines, and tight corners. Though a bike cannot be fully evaluated on a short test track, it does give plenty of opportunity to see how a bike feels climbing, descending and handling in tight spaces.

Bradford on Avon 2007

I have seen well over a thousand pictures of the BoA event in previous years, and studied them in great detail. So when I arrived for the first time on Saturday, it looked somewhat familiar. But nothing could have prepared me for the magic of actually being there.

Firstly, the sheer scale of the place is massive. Secondly, how many 17th century mansions will one get to camp outside? Fewer still, where the owner will encourage the campers to move further into the garden!

Photo from BOA 2005, by David Sanders

The weather was fantastic - beautiful sunshine for most of Saturday. And it was great to meet lots of people, all of whom shared a passion for Moultons.

Saturday morning was the bring and buy sale. Lots of bargains to be had, and a few bikes changing hands.

The highlight of the weekend was the Saturday afternoon assembly. The organisers called owners of all the models from the very beginning to line up and show off their bikes. Each model was called individually, and most had 3 or 4 examples for show.

Photo from Flickr user Group51uk

The experts, including Alex Moulton himself scrutinised the bikes in great detail and awarded a certificate for the best example of each model. The parade was cut short due to lack of time, so they never got beyond the AM-GT.

New product announcements followed. Highlights include:
- the new Esprit, the new version of the AM.
- framesets available for the Esprit and the Bridgestone
- frameskins and HED wheels.
- Pashley were showing off a few custom colours and finishes
- The superb new large bag for the TSR.
- Two new Moulton books

There was also a few words from a Moultoneer who had just completed Paris Brest Paris on a Pashley Moulton TSR 30.

I will write in much more detail over the next day or two, and post a few pictures.

Until then, there are lots of pictures on the Moulton Bicycle Pool on Flickr

New Garmin Edge

Garmin Edge's new killer apps for cyclists – wireless route sharing and SRM power compatibility - gizmag Article

The mapping capabilities on the Edge 605 and Edge 705 allow cyclists to truly get lost in their ride without losing their way. Both units come with turn-by-turn routing to destinations based on built-in maps and optional detailed street or topographical maps on preloaded data cards.

Altitude is recorded using a barometric altimeter for the Edge 705. This accurate altitude data makes it much easier for cyclists to match their altitude profile with their speed, cadence, and heart rate during post-ride analysis. The Edge 605 measures altitude through GPS positioning.

Moultonbuzz believes that for a truly transcendental ride, you should leave everything at home... except a pump and perhaps a few jaffa cakes. But if you must bring a gadget with you, then a GPS mapping gadget is an excellent choice.

The Garmin Edge 205 and 305 have been out for a while and they looked great. I haven't used one but I was told that it lacked the facility to tell you where you were. You could of course do the usual GPS stuff - navigate to waypoints, and create a log of where you had been. But if you were truly lost, and turned on the device, it would presumably know where you were, but it couldn't tell you.
There was also the issue of fitting the optional speed/cadence sensor to a Moulton, because of the larger distance between rear wheel and crank. For an excellent article on how to do this modification see Detlef Beyer's article.

Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor modified to fit a Moulton

The new Garmin Edge 605 and Edge 705 have lots of mapping goodness so either could turn out to be a good replacement for my current hodge podge of GPS applications and hardware which usually sits at home while I go for a ride.

When used with Garmin Connect — Garmin’s new and improved online training site — the Edge’s benefits continue long after the workout. By pairing the Edge 705 or Edge 605 with Garmin Connect, users can join a worldwide network of cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts and log their workouts, track their totals, share workouts and participate in an online community. They can also search and download routes uploaded by other users.

Which is fine if you're doing it when you should be working, but not when you should be on your bike 🙂

Weird and not at all wonderful

BikeRadar is at the Eurobike exhibition, and reports this morning on a new bicycle from Cannondale

...the Hooligan, a small-wheeled, hub geared urban machine that looks like the bastard offspring of a BMX and a Moulton.

It sounds weird but it might just work. Those small wheels will give you excellent acceleration (ideal for urban riding) and a long wheel base should make for stable and predictable handling, the hub gears mean low maintenance, and the burly frame certainly looks tough enough to cope with city streets - we shall see, we've already ordered one in for test.

Of course we all know that Moultons are pure breeds, and while it's vaguely possible that a frustrated early APB might fantasize about a dirty weekend with something classy like a Rivendell, it would certainly never mix it's genes with a BMX.

When you look at those fat tyres, only one thing comes to mind... the Raleigh RSW.

Fed up with newcomer Moulton selling so many bikes, Raleigh needed to hit back.
They badly needed to compete with the Moulton bicycle, but couldn't get around Moulton's suspension patents.

So they developed the RSW. At first glance it was vaguely similar to a Moulton. They used balloon tyres to get around the discomfort factor of unsuspended small wheels.

Raleigh RSW

The RSW was inferior in every way to the Moulton. It was 6lbs heavier and felt like cycling through treacle. But it was cheaper to manufacture, so Raleigh could sell it more cheaply.

The unsuspecting customer, walking into a bike shop to buy a Moulton could easily be convinced to buy this thing that looked a lot like a Moulton, but was over 10% cheaper, and had Raleigh's name on it.

Neo-liberal mass market corporation's greedy marketing tactics win out over sound engineering shocker.

So is history about to repeat itself. I don't think so. Firstly, Alex Moulton is unlikely to sell his company to Cannondale, as he did to Raleigh in the 1960's.

But more importantly, the original Moulton was sold to the mass market, and so was vulnerable to mass market competition, and big bicycle manufacturers.

Today's Moultons are a very much specialised product for a niche market. People who buy Moultons are a very different segment of the market to the majority of the market: mountain bikes that never see a mountain, junk hybrids, supermarket bike shaped objects and tour de france clones.

Land's End to John o' Groats on a TSR 30

I have been following the build up and now the progress of Simon Berry's Participation Ride 2007, which this year intends to use the National Cycle Network as much as possible.

Last year I raised £1,000 for ruralnet|uk's Participation Fund and that has been spent enabling people working hard in their own communities to attend our annual conference and access our online support services. PLEASE help me beat last year's total by clicking the 'Sponsor Me' button to the right. I will personally and privately acknowledge all donations.

In return I will endeavour to keep you informed and amused by blogging the trip here 'from the saddle'!
Many thanks.

In return I will endeavour to keep you informed and amused by blogging the trip here 'from the saddle'!

There's a great deal of interesting material on the route, with maps and lots of GPS goodies, accomodation and most importantly the bike. You can also read about last year's ride.

Also check out the page of video from last years ride.

The video below features Simon detailing the bike fully loaded, and it serves to demonstrate how well the TSR / Moultons in general are built for touring.