Tag: am

Small Wheel Folding Bikes on TreeHugger

Treehugger, which claims to have 4 million page views per month, tried to educate it's readers on the subtleties of the small wheel bicycle today.

Many think that any small wheeled bike is a folder, but it ain’t necessarily so. But it is true that small wheels do help a bicycle collapse into a neater package. That’s not to say these are toy bikes. Some ride theirs everyday to work (for years), others tour whole continents, while yet others have set world records for upright bicycles.

And in the list of featured "folders":
Pashley Moulton TSR 8

What: Pashley-Moulton TSR8
Where: Pashley; in the US, try Angle Lake Cyclery or North Road Bicycles
Why: From the original designer of front and rear suspension small wheel bikes, this eight speed hub geared, British-made spaceframe swiftly separates into two halves.
How much: $2,595
Nice touch: Front and rear carriers carry low, and have very stable centre of gravity.
More: Pashley-Moulton and TreeHugger.

Video of the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) from 1955

Not much in the way of Moulton content here, but I thought this might be of interest to some readers.

It's a little portrait of cycling heaven. Of course cycling heaven will contain many Moultons, and this video does not. The reason being that the film dates from 1955, less than a year before Alex Moulton bought his Hetchins bicycle, which prompted him to begin his life long quest to improve on the classic bicycle.

It's a wonderful look back into what seems like a different planet. Rail carriages dedicated to carrying bikes, few cars on the roads, lugged steel frames, and a total absence of lycra.

Part One

Part Two

Original Post by Brian Arner

Pashley at London Cycle Show 2007

Pashley are at the London Cycle Show (stand E11), as BikeRadar reports. The cycling world is obsessed with city bikes at the moment, and the more retro the better, so most of the coverage is of Pashley's traditional bicycles.

The TSR does get a mention however:

Pashley were showing their TSR Pashley Moulton range including this show special (although you can buy it if your pockets are deep enough) featuring a Campag Centaur rear mech matched up with a Miche Supertype aluminium chainset and HED Jet wheels. Nice.

Vic (on a Moulton) knocks 18 min. off

2007 is a year for anniversaries. The Y-frame, Tom Simpson's death and the Raleigh takeover of Moulton have been covered here previously.

In September 1967, Vic Nicholson broke the Cardiff-London record on a Moulton.

In 1962, John Woodburn had broken the record on a specially built Moulton Speed. After the opening of the Severn Bridge, Brian Catt took the record over the new shorter route.

However, Moulton would soon retake the record.

This post on the Phil Bikes blog contains a copy of the report in the September 1967 edition of Cycling.

Making good use of Sunday's strong wind Vic Nicholson regained for Moulton Bicycles the London to Cardiff record.

His time for the 151 miles was 6-14-54 seconds, beating Brian Catt's three-months-old record by nearly 18 minutes.

Both Nicholson and Catt used the newly-opened Severn Bridge which chopped 10 miles off the route used by previous record breakers including John Woodburn's December 1962 epic on a Moulton.

...

With 20 miles to go timekeeper Eric Wilkinson drove past Vic for the finish and traffic congestion was such that he got to Marble Arch with only two minutes to spare before Vic Nicholson weaved his way through to finish there.

Not so fortunate was organizer David Duffield, who lost sight of his man in a traffic-jam with one mile to go.

Visit the original post to read a full size scan of the report in Cycling, September 1967.