Tag: speed

Esprit reviewed in Velovision

Issue 28 of Velovision magazine has a Moulton Esprit on the cover and contains a 4 page review inside.

Velovision Issue 28

This review was done by editor Peter Eland. This contrasts with the review of the TSR 8 in Issue 21, which was done by a Moultoneer. Now I'm certainly not saying that the TSR 8 review wasn't a very fine review, but it's always interesting to read about the experiences of a non-Moultoneer on our favourite machines. I also think the reader is likely to be less skeptical of such a review.

The bike reviewed was a separable 9 speed (Capreo rear block and single chainring) with adjustable stem (not a wishbone stem) and Mosquito bars, which Peter described as his favourite position for a town bike.

Non-moultoneers are often unnerved at first by the handling, but Peter describes this well thus

It's a bike which reflects your inputs; ride it with a calm upper body and it'll track straight and true: twitch around and it'll twitch right back.

Some comments were slightly disappointing such as

This isn't the bike to choose for a hilly camping tour.

which is an astonishing comment to make considering some of the epic tours that have been undertaken on essentially the same bike. Maybe the comment was directed more at the gearing of the test bike (33" - 100" with a single chainring).

There were also some slightly negative comments on the position of the gear shifter and the lack of ability to shift and brake at the same time.

Perhaps the factory would have been better supplying the double chainring model with drop bars and STI shifters.

There was also the usual comment about climbing hills out of the saddle, and getting left behind by "roadies". People seem to forget that a certain American multiple Tour de France winner climbed many a col while sitting in the saddle.

In conclusion, the review comments that the Esprit was "light, rigid and responsive"... "like riding a finely-tuned musical instrument", and that it seemed to be a "hedonist's bike".

Elsewhere in issue 28, the Esprit was used to demonstrate the pitlock system, and Alex Moulton bicycles have taken a quarter page advert.

If you're not already a Velovision reader, I thoroughly recommend it. Annual subscriptions cost from £20 from www.velovision.com. Alternatively you can just purchase the current issue.

Rohloff Moulton

The Rohloff Speedhub is an internal hub gear, with 14 evenly spaced gear ratios and an overall range of 526%.


Neither Pashley, nor Alex Moulton bicycles provide a Rohloff equipped model, but options do exist if you want your ultimate bicycle to have the ultimate hub gear.

Avon Valley Cyclery, a Moulton dealer in Bath, produces the Moulton New Series Rohloff, and the Pashley Moulton Rohloff TSR.

The New Series Rohloff features Rohloff rear dropouts instead of the standard dropouts. The Rohloff dropouts allow sufficient fore and aft adjustment to achieve the correct chain tension, without the need for a chain tensioner. This is quite an elegant solution, though it will make it more difficult to retrofit a standard derailleur drivetrain in the future.


Photo: Avon Valley Cyclery

The Avon Valley Cyclery Rohloff TSR uses the standard TSR dropouts, and so a chain tensioner is used. This is not as aesthetically pleasing, but has the practical benefit that any standard drivetrain can be retrofitted, without any modifications to the frame.


Photo: Avon Valley Cyclery

You can, of course, purchase a Rohloff Speedhub, and fit it to your existing Moulton bicycle.

Rohloff have a useful wizard for choosing the correct version of the Speedhub for your particular situation.

There are a couple of downsides to equipping your Moulton with a Rohloff Speedhub. Firstly the high cost can be prohibitive. However, this is a very high quality piece of equipment, and failures have been few and far between. In the rare cases where problem have occurred, the service from the Rohloff factory is reported to be amazing. It is also worth noting that the cost seems more reasonable when compared with the cost of high quality drivetrains such as XTR or Dura Ace from Shimano.

Secondly, the issue of weight. While, again, the weight is not that high compared to a 27 speed drivetrain, but in the case of the Rohloff, all of the weight is unsuspended.

Useful Rohloff Videos

A couple of useful Rohloff videos, from Thorn Cycles / St John Street Cycles.

The first video is an animation of the Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed internally geared hub being assembled while operating.

The second video contains instructions on how to perform an oil change. An oil change should be done on the Speedhub every 5000km, or once per year, which ever is sooner.

Too Many Moultons?

Friction pervades the life of a cyclist.


Photo from Julian Kowalewski's collection on Flickr

Ivan Illich wrote in Toward a History of Needs:

A century ago, the ball-bearing was invented. It reduced the coefficient of friction by a factor of a thousand. By applying a well-calibrated ball-bearing between two Neolithic millstones, a man could now grind in a day what took his ancestors a week. The ball-bearing also made possible the bicycle, allowing the wheel -- probably the last of the great Neolithic inventions -- finally to become useful for self-powered mobility.

But friction is also the primary force which makes cycling possible. Without it, acceleration would be impossible. If somehow, motion was achieved, braking would be impossible, turning the wheel would have no effect and leaning to turn would bring us crashing down. To visualise the role of friction in bicycling, imagine trying to cycle on a lake of polished ice.

Matt Seaton in yesterday's Guardian talks about another type of friction - that between a cyclist and his significant other.

A common one is: "What was in that large box I had to sign for this morning?" Which is a mini-version of the dialogue that runs: "And why do you need a new bike?" This is actually a conversation that can be circumvented, but only at risk of the uncomfortable interrogation that begins: "So, how long have you had this new bike, and when were you proposing to tell me about it?" This naturally segues into a "And how are you paying for this?" inquisition.

My wife frequently declares "you can only cycle on one bike at a time".

One Moultoneer helpfully suggested the best tactic for decieving one's significant other is to purchase bikes that are the same colour as an existing bike. Then, when quizzed, you can declare "but that's the same red bike I have had for ages".

An eBay seller seems to have made some compromises in this department. The listing contains the following nugget:

It is only being sold now because my wife has stamped her little foot, and declared that 17 Moultons is 16 too many.

Though, perhaps the price being requested indicates that he's not really trying to sell at all!

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.