Tag: new series

Moulton and Pashley to merge under Alex Moulton name

Alex Moulton Bicycles and Pashley are expected to announce that they are to combine their capital, administration and brands into a single company for the production of Moulton Bicycles. The combined company will use the Alex Moulton name. This probably means that there will no longer be a distinction between "Pashley Moulton" and "Alex Moulton".

Production of the bicycles will initially remain unchanged, so the TSR will continue to be made in Stratford-upon-Avon, while the Esprit, New Series and Double Pylon models will continue to be made at Bradford-on-Avon.

A single website will feature the combined range.

Many questions remain, such as:

  • does this mean that one can order any Alex Moulton bicycle throughany Pashley dealer.
  • will there be any staff redundancies?
  • will there be a clean split between the company producing the traditional Pashley range, and the new combined Pashley Moulton/Alex Moulton entity?
  • will the premises in Stratford continue to be shared?
  • where will new design and development work be done?

Let's hope the official announcement comes soon and we get lots of answers!

Exciting Moulton Announcement This Week?

Alex Moulton Bicycles and Pashley are being very tight lipped, but both confirmed that they will make a big announcement, probably later this week.

The announcement is expected to define how the two companies will work together in the future.

Frame brazing at Alex Moulton Bicycles in Bradford-on-Avon. Photo by Ben Wilson

It is unclear, at this point, whether this means some kind of merger, a joint venture by both companies, or simply, a manufacture under licence agreement.

The APB was the first bicycle produced in cooperation between the two companies. The bicycle was designed by Alex Moulton, who then sought a manufacturer to produce the bicycle under licence using Moulton's tooling. While Raleigh was considered at first, thankfully it was WR Pashley who eventually manufactured the APB at its premises in Stratford-upon-Avon.


Picture: Pashley

The TSR was designed and manufactured by Pashley.

So what is this new partnership likely to involve?

One possibility is that the Esprit could be manufactured by Pashley. From day one, the Esprit was manufactured in a separate unit to the New Series/Pylons and by separate staff, so this could be moved to a different site relatively easily. Also, the hairpin design is more like the APB/TSR and this lends itself to slightly higher volume, lower cost manufacture. Such a deal would be likely to see the Esprit being marketed more agressively than any Bradford built bike, as we have seen with the TSR since it's introduction.

Whatever the announcement, it is likely that we will see more Moulton bicycles rolling out of Pashley's doors in the near future.


Picture: Pashley

Bridgestone Prototype Suspension

This picture shows Alex Moulton on a special Bridgestone Moulton. Two things stand out - firstly, the parallel wishbone stem and Mosquito handlebars. Standard issue on the Double Pylon, but I have never seen them on a Bridgestone before.

The second and more interesting feature is the suspension. Instead of the usual telescopic suspension, this bike features a hybrid unit - a flexitor system at the top and leading links at the bottom.

The flexitor assembly looks very similar to that fitted to the New Series / Double Pylon. The leading links are much larger than those fitted to the ATB/APB/TSR, due to the larger distance between the fixed forks.

Will this make it into production? Who knows?!

Picture from: http://moulton.egloos.com/

Hydrolastic Suspension

The Moulton Hydrolastic suspension was first featured in the Morris 1100. This photo shows Alex Moulton with Alec Issigonis, who famously designed the Mini, at the lauch of the 1100 in 1962.

In the background, is a chart detailing the design of the Hydrolastic suspension unit.

The Hydrolastic was a rubber suspension unit with integrated fluid damping. It was important for two reasons. Firstly, whereas a conventional suspension used separate springs and dampers, the Hydrolastic combined the two, thus saving space.

Secondly, the front and rear units were interconnected by a small diameter pipe, to reduce the tendency of a car to pitch when it went over a bump.

The Hydrolastic suspension was used in several cars from the 1100, to the Rover 100 and Metro. It was originally intended to be featured on the Mini, but wasn't quite ready when the Mini was launched. The first Minis with Hydrolastic suspension were produced in 1964.

A new implementation of the Hydrolastic suspension concept is currently in use in the Moulton New Series bicycle. Here, the fluid damped rubber unit contributes to the ultra smooth suspension.

The stiffness of the rear suspension can be increased for heavier loads, by pumping air into the valve at the rear of the unit. Earlier New Series models also featured a valve on the side of the Hydrolastic unit for adjusting the fluid damping, but this is not a feature of recent models.

Photo credits: Ken Butterfield and Alex Moulton Bicycles.