Tag: am

New Brooks Products for 2008

Brooks were at Interbike and had some new products to show along with their existing line up.

Their stand included a Pashley Moulton TSR 30 donned with leather bar tape and a Swift saddle.

New leather grips are available.

Each BROOKS Leather Grip is made with a stack of leather washers held together by 3 bicycle
spokes and 2 aluminium rings. This construction enables each of the 2 grips to be shortened
independently to the desired length.

The BROOKS leather grips fit all standard handlebars with a 22.2 mm diameter. They are
available in 4 colours: black, brown, aged (dark tan) and honey.

Download the grips brochure

Of much interest were the fold-up pannier bags. They are not waterproof and probably not much use on a Moulton. They do look good however...

They also announced a new wire basket...

made
of a metal structure, wooden base and a leather grip.
For the use on modern bikes this basket is equipped
with a modern KLICKfix® handlebar adapter

Also of possible interest was a new "Messenger" style bag. This is a waxed canvas bag...

featuring a shoulder belt which can
be easily secured around the waist while cycling.
The belt is the innovative part of this bag. Once
adjusted to the desired length, depending on the
height and waist of the cyclist, the belt can be
kept loose to carry the bag over or across the
shoulder while walking.
For increased stability during the ride, the belt
can be easily fastened around the waist simply
pulling the two ends of the belt and locking them
at the center with the “Sam Brown” fixing.

Other products to look out for in the near future are a laptop bag, a waterproof tote shopping bag (designed to fit perfectly into the wire basket), new handlebar bags and rear panniers.

The product section on Brooks' website has not yet been updated but the details (along with brochures) are available on the News/Press page.

Brooks 2008 Cycle Bags and Accoutrements Brochure

Brooks Leather Grips Brochure

Reaction to Pashley at Interbike

Pashley are at Interbike, showing off the TSR to the US market. BikeHugger has mentioned it twice so far, and Urbanvelo has posted a couple pictures.


Pashley had their super-cool folders on site as well. I'll try to get a few laps on one of those tomorrow.

...and then...


I posted yesterday about the Pashley travel bike. I got to take it out for a spin today. The bike is setup with full racks, and is still quite light. The whole thing is built by hand by a bunch of tradesmen in Strattford-Uon-Avon, England. I quizzed the guys at the booth on the "welder shots" in the catalog and they told me who each guy was and what they do - classic! You're hard pressed to find many manufacturers who can say that these days. Anyway, the bike was surprisingly solid. The low center of gravity was noticeable when swooping downhill, but the suspended fork make for some REALLY solid cornering. That same fork resulted in some goofy feelings every time I got out of the saddle, but I guess thats the trade off. Pashley has their travel bikes in range from ~$2400 - $3500 depending on the package you go for. Pretty cool option for a full-rideable travel bike.

I thought it was a pretty positive report. Pity about calling it a folder and missing the word Moulton though!

Urbanvelo posted a couple pictures too...

Mr Pedersen: A Man of Genius

A new version of the David Evans book Ingenious Mr Pedersen, is to be published shortly with the new name Mr Pedersen: A Man of Genius.

As he strode through the town in Norfolk Jacket, tall, long black beard blowing in the win, lost in thought and heeding no one, he carried with him the aroma of strong, sweet coffee. Mikael Pedersen was different. Born near Roskilde, in Denmark, in 1855 he quickly showed his powers of invention. One idea he patented was a milk separator which revolutionized dairy practice. It was taken up by the engineering firm of R. A. Lister and Co. in Dursley, Gloucestershire, into which town Mikael settled in1889. With him came his genius for inventing and for providing unique solutions to engineering problems. He is known now just for his bicycle of unusual design - the Dursley Pedersen - but in his time he was highly regarded in engineering circles and played significant roles in The First World War. At the end of that war he and his family vanished and the rest of his life was for long a mystery. What happened to him was first revealed in the writer's "The Ingenious Mr Pedersen", published in 1978. In this present book David Evans tells Mikael's unusual story again with very much more information about this highly talented man.

The original Pedersen cycle was patented in 1893 and pioneered the use of small diameter tubing for bicycle construction, which was taken in a different direction 90 years later by Alex Moulton.

After a long period of absence, the Pedersen was then re-interpreted in 1978 by Jesper Sølling, and today there are over 6000 modern Pedersens around the world.


Picture from http://www.pedersen.info/

Curiously enough, around the same time - perhaps a year earlier, Alex Moulton was looking for a new frame structure that would be lighter than his Y-frame.

Alex Moulton wrote the foreward to the original book, and is rumoured to actually own a Pedersen himself, and probably studied it's construction while he was developing the first X-frames in the late 1970s.

The new book is published on 1st October by Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 0752445057.

Alex Moulton: A Lifetime in Engineering

A new book on Alex Moulton has just been published, and it was unveiled at Bradford-on-Avon last weekend.

It is based on an interview by John Pinkerton in 1998 at The Hall in Bradford on Avon. Some people might remember the VHS video of the same name based on the same interview.

In it Alex Moulton talks about his life growing up in Bradford on Avon, the family business and how he developed a love for cycling and engineering. It contains fascinating insights into the development of the original Moulton bicycle, the involvement with Raleigh, the AM era, as well as his automotive career and life outside engineering.

The list price is €14.99, and the ISBN is 978-3-8258-0755-9. A big box was delivered to the Moulton Bicycle Club at the weekend, and many of these were sold for £5. If you contact Moulton Preservation you may be able to get a copy.
It's published by LIT Verlag in Berlin, Germany, and distributed in the UK by Global Book Marketing, 99B Wallis Rd, London, E9 5LN. It's not yet listed in their catalogue at http://www.centralbooks.co.uk/.

Distribution in the US is by Transaction Publishers, orders@transactionpub.com.