[kenneth buttterfield]

In tribute to Hans, whose attention to detail and sense of humour I will miss I have uploaded an interesting document.
It can be found on my Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/worksmoulton/

and details the parts used in this master build

enjoy…Ken B

[kenneth buttterfield]

Would anyone care to comment on the specfication?
Perhaps it will help if considering the build of more Marathons….also I read in latest Moultoneer that the replica built by Hans is for sale, which should find a good home hopefully.
I am always amazed that more mk3 owners did not follow the example of the original and MARATHONIZE their bikes for touring!

[kenneth buttterfield]

I genuinly believed that this was a thread worthy of some comment…seems I was wrong?
ken B

[john bartlett]

as the one who supplied Hans with the stowaway jointed mk3 frameset that became the marathon replica I suppose I should make a comment. I got the bike from Tim the vicar and kept the extensively reworked rear triangle and bomb proof 3×7 wheels. Although I have owned a number of stowaway moultons I have never been a fan. The joints always wear/stretch even if the owner is careful. I remember the advertisement when Tony Hadland sold Jack Lauterwassers white stowaway “slight belling of the joint”. So whilst I love messing around with old moultons a marathon replica did not appeal to me. One of the early mk3 conversions I did used 2+2 marathon gearing and I had the bike resprayed british racing green but I did not want a stowaway joint on the bike.
I must say I did enjoy seeing what Hans could do to a bike though.
jb

[kenneth buttterfield]

Thanks for the constructive input John, I agree with you totally on the stowaway joint, lets face it if Lauterwasser could not make it work, who could?
I always steer well clear of em’
However there are many other good features of the MARATHON which could be applied to any Mk3 tourer to good effect?
ken

[john bartlett]

I agree Ken, of my four current mk3 bikes two are duomatic equipped, perhaps I will put on an extra cog and chainring. One of the nice little touches on the marathon was a braze on torque arm point (with a sliding fit bolt) so that when changing from one cog to another only the wheel bolts needed undoing to slide the wheel forward not the torque arm strap as well. When I finally get to downsizing my collection I will just keep on of each frame type but all equipped with duomatic hubs. I already have a continental, mk3, AM2 and TSR2. An APB should be fairly easy that only leaves the bridgestone to think about.
jb

[Tom Esslemont]

I reckon the duomatic equipped bikes are the best round, do you agree John? I love riding the AM2 about and particularly enjoyed my MK3 / AM hybrid with duomatic, now fitted with the 5 speed SA hub and bar end shifter. I have always wondered how it worked with those mudguards on the Marathon, it always looked to be centred up nicely on pics from the period, although I would expect that there would be a fair amount of space required to slide the wheel back and forth!

Does anyone know exactly what sprockets were used? It seems a novel way to add 4 gears in effect, wonder how easy it really was though, with a laden bike and being absolutely knackered after a long day in the saddle?!

Tom

[kenneth buttterfield]

I recently bought a classic AM2, but due to bad weather I have only had the briefest of test rides….all seems good so far..oh and they seem very light?..ken

[john bartlett]

the wheel only needs to slide forward so that the chain can be relocated on the other set of cogs, when the chain is tensioned again the wheel should return to the same position. I think there was a 4 tooth difference between cogs sizes (and chainwheel sizes)
jb

[kenneth buttterfield]

Does anyone know who bought the Hans Werner MARATHON replica from his estate?
k

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