Moulton Bicycle Club

Graham Attwell, who died recently, was a Club Member for over 30 years.

The following is a tribute from Tim Evans:

Many Moultoneers will have bought wheels built by Graham Attwell.  Their high quality is legendary.  He was a very clever man who loved solving problems.  Graham shared his knowledge through masterclasses at several BOA weekends and his contributions to the Yahoo discussion group were always worth reading and keeping.

I bought my first wheels from Graham at BOA 2002, they were 16” alloy rims with a Dynohub in the front and in the rear,  a 4-speed Sturmey Archer that he’d converted to 2-trigger 5-speed.  It was for a 1963 deluxe I was doing up for my daughter. 

The next wheels were for a Speedsix that its previous owner had relegated to 16” steel rims when its 17” Milremo alloy originals split between the spoke holes.  On that occasion I had the privilege of being admitted to Graham’s garage.  It was stuffed full of bicycles and bicycle-related things with a narrow passage just wide enough to walk through.  Also for the Speedsix he had some pretty authentic looking alloy-look mudguards that I got.   

Graham helped find the APB which is the basis of our Moulton tandem. Over the years I bought several sets of wheels from Graham, often 2-trigger 5-speeds, which I really like.

He didn’t charge for the time he put into building wheels and sold them simply for the cost of the components. If he found a new rim was a bit oversize he would separate it at the pins and file it down so that tyres fitted easily.  That’s attention to detail. 

Often we met at Ripley cycle jumbles where he was looking for suitable hubs.  One of his sayings was “this spins well and will give good service though it might not carry you all the way round the world”.  

He enjoyed building wheels and hub gears, so inevitably he had to sell them so he could build more but he saw no reason to profit from his enjoyment.  Once somebody had the temerity to try to beat him down on price to which Graham’s response was simply to increase price to him!

Westminster City Council in London kept Graham after retirement as a consultant for siting bus stops, which is a very tricky multidimensional problem, as is wheel building and hub gear conversions.  Bendy-buses were a particular problem (I found them scary when cycling) but for Graham getting them round the streets of Westminster, on to and off bus stops and not offending residents was an interesting challenge to exercise the “little grey cells”. 

Graham was a good friend in whose company I enjoyed several dinners at BOA.  I and many Moultoneers will miss his knowledge, wisdom and dry humour but his wheels will roll on, which reminds me that I have a couple of worn out 369 rims to replace.

The Hall/ Moulton Bicycle Company, Holt Road, Bradford on Avon, BA15 1AH

The Hall

The Courtyard where the Saturday afternoon Talk will be held

All adults through the gate need to pay either £10 for the Saturday meet or £25 for weekend camping. For those aged 17 and under it's all free (when accompanied by an adult Club member). Despite our increasing costs, we have held the event cost to you at the same level for the past two years!

As ever it’s members & immediate family only, if you are not a member then you can join the club for £22.50 (UK membership) on line beforehand or at the gate to maintain our status with HMRC. Toilets & showers are available to all.

Provisional schedule for the weekend

Friday– from 4pm campers/motorhomes can arrive to set up their units. Ample parking on site but maybe not in your first choice of location. We then usually head down to the Swan Hotel in the centre of Bradford on Avon to meet up and have something to eat. As an alternative there is the The Dandy Lion across the road from the Swan and numerous other pubs and restaurants in Bradford on Avon for good food & drink.

The Bridge across the Avon in the Town Centre

Saturday

8am gates open, campers awake……..

9amto11am Table Top Sale of all things Moulton, everything from a rideable bike to a set of frame transfers, those special replacement parts for F frame refurbishments from Moulton Preservation, interesting components & spares from the Moulton factory. NO fees for selling your stuff whether thats a van full of Moultons or a few tyres, its all free.

Table Top Sale of all things Moulton

11am – 12 noon Open forum, for you to share your thoughts with the committee and the committee to ask for your help, guidance & ideas.

1pm – 3pm Courtyard talk, this year from F-frame to Space-frame as it’s the 40^th anniversary of the launch of the Space-frame bicycle. Presented by Dan Farrell and Tony Hadland with numerous bicycle examples. The raffle draw.

Court Yard Talk

3pm – 5pm A short ride (1.2 miles each way) to the Kettlesmith Brewing Company to sample some of their fine ales.

7pm – 11pm The club meal at St Margarets Hall. Main’s (see booking form) served with mixed rice, new potatoes, mixed salad, coleslaw. Desserts (see booking form) served with pouring cream. Tea or coffee after the meal & a bar is available.

OR

The BBQ will be a bring your own food & drink, there will be separate “meat” and “vegetarian” BBQ grills. (Provided by the Moulton Bicycle Company)

OR

If you want to go into BoA for a meal I suggest you plan ahead.

Sunday– All rides set off from the upper car park by the entrance gate.

There will be 3 rides:

Long ride about 35 miles, Middle ride around 25 miles, Short 10mile family ride.

Usually the first ride leaves at about 9am and the last ride sets off at about 10am, but the actual departure times will be displayed during the event & on Facebook.

Every thing may change due to the weather or events outside our control.

Clear up all debris, your tents packed away etc. and we all leave before 5pm on Sunday.

As per previous years, we will have security on the gate fron Friday through to Sunday morning.

Please keep checking our web page and Facebook for the latest event news and updates.

I hope you can join us at BoA, it will be good to see you in September, catch up with old friends, make new friends AND ride in a group of Moultons.

Mark Taylor

We would like to draw our members’ attention to a scam which very nearly lost a member a large amount of money when trying to sell his expensive bike.
A person (calling himself Chris Turner, allegedly based in France)) contacted the seller to say he wished to buy the bike he had for sale. He was happy to pay the full price. He asked a favour. He would send a cheque for more than the amount for the bike, the surplus to be forwarded to his courier. The surplus was quite large but the buyer explained this was because the courier was going to do a large amount of work for him. The courier was based in Ireland.
The cheque arrived for the purchase of the bike and was paid into the seller’s bank. However, the seller’s bank wouldn’t accept it as it was in euros! A stroke of luck!

The seller of the bike then learnt through a friend, that the same person (Chris Turner) had bought a tandem from a member of the ‘Tandem Bicycle Club.’ This person had been scammed out of nearly £6,000.00!!!

‘Chris Turner’ is not a member of the MBC, so how did he get the information re the sale? It transpires that the seller also put the bike on another organisation’s website with no log-in requirements. The likelihood is that the scammer saw it advertised there. Our sales can only be accessed by members who need to sign in. 

Without going into complex details, the scam revolves around the buyer’s cheque bouncing!

Please be mindful when selling a bike.

Robert and Clive invite you to participate in a genteel soiree around Richmond Park, the largest of London's Royal Parks.

Can't help it about the shape my Moulton’s in, can't pedal, I ain't pretty and my tyres are thin

Don't ask me what I think of yours, might not give the answer that will bring applause!

No matter the state of your F-Frame, be it virginal, restored, or ‘age-worn,’ bring it along to this special ride to celebrate the life of Michael Woolf.

Meet at Roehampton Gate Car Park to set off at 11:00 A.M.
The ride is at a very leisurely pace of about 12 miles in length, mainly off road, following the park’s Tamsin Trail.
It is ideal for those who prefer a gentle amble on their F frames. There is one optional hill!
There are plenty of refreshment stops and places of interest, with a picnic close to Pembroke Lodge.
Bring food or buy snacks at the Pembroke Lodge Kiosk nearby.
The event ends at the Roehampton Gate Tea Room and disperses by about 3pm.
Looking forward to seeing you there.

Robert & Clive