Today, April 9th 2010, is Alex Moulton's 90th birthday.
To celebrate, the new Moulton Bicycle design, which has been code named "Mdev", will be unveiled at his birthday celebration at The Hall, Bradford on Avon.
The design of the new bicycle is a closely guarded secret, and Alex has described it as representing "a major advance" and "more radical than anything I have ever done".
I, for one, can't wait!
The Telegraph, on March 10th, featured a £21,000 bicycle known as the Factor 001. The author wondered if anyone would buy such an expensive bicycle, and concluded...
Fairly ordinary people do, however, pay extraordinary prices for bicycles which they use quite normally. The latest Double Pylon model from Moulton costs £14,500.
One of its owners is the television scriptwriter Christopher Penfold, the author of Midsomer Murders.
Penfold bought his Moulton because, "I had always wanted one and had reached the stage in life where I felt I deserved a treat."
Penfold is riding round the coastline of Britain in stages and uses the Moulton because "it's so beautifully engineered and so comfortable, the perfect bike for my time of life.
"I have never for a second regretted the cost. You might as well ask why people buy a Leica or a Rolex."
via Riding the Factor 001 - it's a £21,000 bicycle! - Telegraph.
The designer who helped create the Mini has described the demise of manufacturing in the Midlands as a “terrible tragedy” and called on the education system to do more to promote practical engineering innovation among a new generation of designers.
Dr Alex Moulton played a crucial role in the creation of the Mini for what was then the British Motor Corporation in the 1950s, along with his friend, designer Sir Alec Issigonis.
The new rubber suspension system Dr Moulton designed made it possible for the designers to make the car one of the smallest ever built, creating one of the classic icons of British engineering. Millions of Minis came off the line at Birmingham’s Longbridge plant until the brand was finally sold, and production eventually closed down.
Continue reading at Birmingham Post - Business - Business News - Manufacturing & Skills - Mini designer Alex Moulton saddened by manufacturing demise.
A weekend of celebration is planned to honour two distinguished Bradford on Avon engineers on their landmark birthdays.
Dr Alex Moulton, inventor of the Moulton bicycle and designer of the suspension for the original Mini, will be 90 on April 9, while on April 15 Jem Marsh, co-founder of sports car manufacturer Marcos, will turn 80.
Bradford on Avon Town Council, the preservation trust and the town’s museum have joined forces to put on an exhibition celebrating Dr Moulton’s engineering career at the West Barn from April 25-28.
Dr Moulton said: “I am deeply honoured and delighted. I feel very privileged that they have taken the trouble to do this.
Continue reading at Town plans weekend of celebrations to honour prominent inventors (From This Is Wiltshire).
Alex Moulton's Autobiography - Alex Moulton: from Bristol to Bradford-on-Avon - is now available for purchase from Alex Moulton Books.
In this new book, Dr. Alex Moulton recounts, in his own words, his lifetime in engineering. The whole story – from building steam cars as a teenager, and working under Roy Fedden at Bristol Aeroplane, through the development of rubber suspension systems that led to collaboration with BMC, Dunlop and Sir Alec Issigonis in the creation of Hydrolastic and Hydragas, to the revolutionary Moulton bicycle that, together with the Mini, became an icon of the swinging sixties – is told in Dr. Moulton’s characteristic direct style.
The book promises
Hundreds of illustrations – sketches, photographs and calculations, many in colour – accompany the text as this fascinating memoir unfolds, giving the reader an insight into the mind of one of Britain’s most innovative engineers. For those who know little of Dr. Moulton’s work, this is a comprehensive account; and for those who have prior knowledge this book contains a wealth of previously unpublished details and illustrations.
