[john lowe]

Hi I have a 15month old TRS30 touring model which has done 2900miles. it turns out that the bottom bracket bearings are knackered the left side much worse and also the swinging arm bushes, (the rear triangle moves side to side) quite a lot. Is this normal for a bike that is decribed as a long distance touring bike.
John.

[Keith Hales]

No. Take it back to where you bought it. If you have no joy, contact Moulton Bicycles directly.

Under the Sale of Goods Act, this bicycle is clearly not fit for purpose in the condition it was sold to you, unless it has been abused. You haven’t been towing a trailer attached to the rear triangle? This can cause premature wear of the pivot bearing.

[Gary Knight]

A modern sealed BB is generally quite a robust component with a longer life span than 2900 miles. This is not a Moulton specific issue. However your second issue is and I would not ride it further without further advice. It sounds like something needs tightening up or replacing? Hopefully someone more technical with a plan will be a long shortly. The BB is unfortunate but easily replaced but you don’t want to damage the rear triangle in anyway so attention to the issue would be best. I was writing this when Keith replied follow what he says.

[admin]

Hi, the rear pivot bolt needs to be quite tight and checked regularly, as described in the owners manual. If it is ridden loose the holes can become ovalised and this is not good.

As Gary said, bottom brackets are not Moulton specific. You would be *hoping* for them to last five or six thousand miles, but they can fail much, much earlier, particularly if ridden in bad conditions, or if the bike gets power washed (even with just mains pressure) or with liberal use of degreasers which can easily degrade bearing seals.

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