Moultonbuzz

The missing link

At first glance, an F-frame moulton, and a spaceframe moulton have very little in common (apart from small wheels, high pressure tyres and suspension, of course)... I mean in the frame of course. One could be forgiven for thinking that Alex Moulton went back to first principles with the spaceframe design.

Y-frame prototype

Well take a look at these photos from Tonly Hadland's gallery. The bicycle shown is a Y-frame, and it is a prototype from the 1970s that nearly made it into production.

One can immediately see that it is a logical progression from the F-frame concept. One can also see how the basic X-shape of the spaceframe is merely a further step away. Of course, the revolutionary step forward in the spaceframe concept is the application of the geodesic structure.

Moulton Y-frame prototype

I recall an interview with Alex Moulton where he spoke about the Y-frame. He gave a friend a Y-frame to try out and to see what he thought of it. His friend told him that it was too heavy compared with the lightweight bicycles that were becoming available at the time. This prompted Alex Moulton to search for a lighter structure for his new bicycle. Whoever that man was... we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude.

Tony's pictures of the prototypes in the Moulton museum in Bradford on Avon show the progression in Alex Moulton's design concepts from ideas stage to production.

Moulton Frame Prototypes

Duomatic on my mark III

I used one of my Mark 3s as a fixed gear commuting bike for almost a year, and while I loved riding fixed, and I loved the simplicity and the low maintenance aspects, I found it did have it's limitations.

Firstly, while I love the simplicity, one gear was just not enough. I had no problem honking up the occasional hill, but my commute at the time was through Dublin's Phoenix Park, which has a lovely 4km stretch with a 1% decline and a prevailing tailwind, that always calls for a higher gear than an all purpose gear.

Secondly, I was worried about my knees. Most fixers will tell you it has no effect on the knees, but I rode while recovering from a knee injury (unrelated to cycling) and I can tell you that even the very subtle pedalling to slow down technique places a considerable strain on the knee.

And most importantly, while I made sure the chainline was perfect, and the chain tension was always ok, I was always worried that it would dump the chain, or catch a shoelace, trouser leg or finger with horrible consequences. Sure, the risk was low, but the consequences were potentially so bad for man and machine, that I found myself unwilling to take even that small risk anymore.

Still wanting a simple, low maintenance setup, I picked up a new old stock Sachs Torpedo Duomatic hub on eBay, built it into a 16inch wheel, and tried it out last night on the same Moulton Mark III.

It's a 2 speed hub, with coaster (back pedal) brake. The "low" gear is direct drive, and the high gear is a 36% overdrive. Gear change is effected by rotating the cranks backwards a few degrees, but not quite as far as required to engage the brake.

It's a really simple setup... there are no gear cables to worry about. And unlike most hub gears, there are no adjustments necessary. It just works. It's got the simplicity of a fixed gear / singlespeed, but with an extra gear for those slight downhills or tailwinds, especially in a mostly flat city like Dublin.
When I rode fixed, I used 56x13, giving around 70 inches on the Moulton. With the Duomatic I'm using 56x16 giving gears of 58 inches and 78 inches. I think that I'll play around with these ratios though.

I'm using a 3/32 inch chain, just because that's the size the chainring and sprockets are. The only problem is that the 56x16 requires the use of a half link. Half links in 3/32 size are hard to find, but I did manage to find some in St John St Cycles.

They're not a very good match for a Sram PC951 chain though. I think they're designed for a chain with taller links. They're also very slightly wider than the PC951 making use of a master link with the half link impossible. The easiest solution is probably to replace the 16t sprocket with a 17t.

Alternatively, I suppose I could just change to a 1/8 chain, with the existing chainring and sprockets... as far as I know the only downside is extra noise.

The test ride was quite nice. I intended doing a 10 minute ride, but it turned into a 30 minute ride.

It takes a little practice to change gears without engaging the brake. The brake is good for a rear brake... obviously useless in an emergency, but perfect for slow easy stops. I used it a lot more than I would normally use a rear brake (i.e. I used it). So it should prolong the life of my front rim, as well as the back rim.

Engaging the brake, also changes the gear, which is great when braking in high gear, as it is quite likely that the low gear will be required next. However, if you brake in low gear, the high gear gets engaged, most likely requiring another backpedal to engage the low gear again before pedalling away. It's only a minor inconvenience, especially when it's actually quite easy to audibly determine what gear is engaged.

How? When the hub is in overdrive, it ticks, whereas direct drive is more silent. The ticking is perceptible as soon as you begin to rotate the cranks and before any effort is engaged, so you know you're in overdrive, even before you try to drive the pedals.

If this hub was to come on the market now, I'm sure the reviews would ridicule it as primitive. But that's it's beauty, it's simple, it works, it's not black. And it requires a little bit of skill and finesse to use it most effectively.

When the fixed gear craze goes out of fashion, as it inevitably will, and cyclists search for something that is simple AND functional... these will be in high demand. Apparently Sturmey Archer are considering remaking the ASC hub, the 3 speed fixed gear hub. Any chance that SRAM would remake the Duomatic??

Information on the Duomatic can be found here

Moulton spotted at a fashion show

I'm no fan of fashion shows but Velorution, the trendy London bike shop and Moulton dealer, recently hosted a cycling fashion show called Pret à Rouler.

In the video of the event, shown below, there are several clips of a Pashley Moulton TSR 9. It's nice to the Moulton featured in such a stylish way.

If the show highlights anything, it's how there's hitherto been a serious lack of variety when it comes to cycle clothing, especially for those of us who are not pretending to be racers. Partly inspired by the Grant Petersen interview, I'm beginning to see what a silly practice the wearing of racing clothing is.When a motorist (boy racer for example) puts a spoiler or a body kit on his car, or installs bucket seats, most normal people think he's a twat, and rightly so! Imagine how they'd be viewed if the boy racers started wearing fireproof jump suits and helmets!But we cyclists are expected to wear clothing designed for top class professional cyclists... men who weigh 60kgs, with 5% body fat. Let's face it... lycra does nothing for 95% of cyclists... and it does nothing to encourage non-cyclists onto two wheels.

Part of me thinks that the proposed ban on lycra cycling shorts in Salt Lake City, Utah is not such a bad idea!

I welcome this new focus by clothing designers on cycle clothing. Needless to say, Pret a Rouler was a fashion show, and one rarely sees practical items of clothing at a fashion show of any description. I'm not sure I could ever turn up at work or even at BoA wearing a Dashing Tweeds outfit, however ingenious the weaving of reflective material into the tweed might be.

Cycling Suit by Dashing Tweeds

So let's hope that Pret a Rouler marks the start of a new generation in cycle clothing. Where one does not have to dress up to go for a ride. Where we cyclists can dismount and immediately look like normal people.

While we're waiting for the revolution, the internet must suffice.

For functional cycle clothing that would almost pass for normal clothing, try Swrve, Chrome, Rivendell, Bicycle Fixation or Portland.

Bicycle Fixation Knickers

Or even try the local charity shop, and get stuff altered to suit.

And if you must wear race style clothing, and to be honest it's difficult to avoid it for rides of 50km or over, try it in natural fabrics from the likes of Rapha, Woolistic or Ibex.

Rapha Fixed Shorts

Riding my Moulton in rural Meath

It's been a really wet summer, and so when I woke up to sunshine on Sunday morning, I wasted no time in jumping into my lycra, grabbing my GPS and phone, hopping onto my Pashley Moulton APB, and heading for the hills.

The area where I live is rural, 5km from Navan (population > 25,000). There are a number of national routes nearby.

My cycling playground is an area between the N2 to the east, the N3 to the west, the aforementioned N51 to the south. If I cross the relatively quiet N52 to the north, I have a free run all the way to the border.

With a little bit of planning, I can quite easily find routes of 100km or more without having to travel on a single national route or a busy road of any description. On my rides I encounter very few cars, perhaps as few as 10 per hour.

I usually plan my routes using a combination of Google Maps and the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series maps (usually 35, 36, 42 and 43). Google Maps is great for showing the roads I like to travel on. I avoid all roads that are blue (motorways), green (national routes) and yellow (busier regional roads) and I focus on the white roads (they look grey until you zoom in further).

Backroads in north Meath

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

The map above shows the route I took last Sunday. The profile looks like this
Route Profile
I consult the OS maps to find some hills or I use HeyWhatsThat Path Profiler. There are very few big hills near where I live. There are plenty of 100-150m climbs, and just a few in the 150-210m range. It's not too difficult to find a 10% incline, but they are mostly less than a kilometre long.

The "white roads" are usually very low traffic, and quite scenic. On occasion the road can be quite narrow with grass growing down the centre of the road!

These routes are perfect for a Moulton bicycle, with the suspension taking the edge off any imperfections in the surface, and making all descents exhilarating.

I usually travel without a map or GPS, unless I'm travelling a new route and I'm afraid I'll get lost, or find my self on a busy national route. Signposts cannot be relied upon in Ireland! Local youths seem to take sport in rotating the signpost to send you the wrong way. In recent years however, there seem to be lots more fixed (two pole) sign posts appearing, making them more reliable.

An interview with Grant Petersen

Bikescape, a podcast from San Fransisco, recently interviewed Grant Petersen from Rivendell Bicycles, and it is well worth a listen.

I don't know if Grant Petersen has ever met Alex Moulton, but I imagine that they have lots in common. Apart from producing beautiful bicycles to a niche market with a cult following, their attitudes are quite similar in many respects.

To many, both could be viewed as old fashioned and even conservative in their outlook. But both men produce well designed, well built bicycles for the lifetime enjoyment of their owners. Neither uses new materials or technology just for the sake of it, and isn't afraid to take a different tack to the mainstream bike industry.

Grant also has some interesting views on clothing for cycling in the interview.

Oh and check out his Tips for Happy Riding