R.I.P. Alex Moulton

[Hugh]

Alex Moulton, bicycle designer and suspension visionary, has died -

Alex Moulton obituary | Technology | The Guardian

I'll bet a fair number of people on here have or had a Moulton at some stage in their cycling careers.

 

[indalo]

I'll bet a fair number of people on here have or had a Moulton at some stage in their cycling careers.

You could be right Hugh though I don't think there were ever that many sold and they weren't exactly cheap almost fifty years ago.

As for the man, he was hugely important in engineering during my youth but what set him apart from many other diligent engineers, in my opinion, was his ability to challenge norms; to entertain those "left-field" or "off-the-wall" ideas and develop them. When he persuaded others that rubber suspension could work, it wasn't exactly original but he was able first, to create the product in such a way and of such size that it was viable for motor vehicle use and secondly, that it was economical to produce.

Some engineers are gifted and some are artists. Moulton was both.

Indalo

 

[shemozzle999]

Was cheap back then - now almost the original cost of the car

ALEX MOULTON SOFT CONE SUSPENSION KIT [MOULTON] - £308.01 : Somerford Mini - Mini Specialists, Providing the complete service for your classic Mini

I owe load of past fun to him and Issy

 

[Jeremy]

I remember being very envious of a friend of mine who was given a Moulton bike as a birthday present, back in the mid to late sixties. It was, IIRC the first readily available bike to have suspension and was certainly the first small wheeled bike I'd seen at that time. It was also, again IIRC, pretty expensive, even then.

It would be nice to think that we still have people like Alex Moulton in this country, but it seems that our days of designing and manufacturing innovative products are over.

 

[jerrysimon]

I currently own two Moultons

1970s Raleigh Moulton MK3 before I updated it.

Recent Pashley built TSR2

Both of them are incredibly comfy to ride.

Jerry

 

[flecc]

As for the man, he was hugely important in engineering during my youth but what set him apart from many other diligent engineers, in my opinion, was his ability to challenge norms; to entertain those "left-field" or "off-the-wall" ideas and develop them. When he persuaded others that rubber suspension could work, it wasn't exactly original but he was able first, to create the product in such a way and of such size that it was viable for motor vehicle use and secondly, that it was economical to produce.

Some engineers are gifted and some are artists. Moulton was both.

Indalo

I've wondered at times what he thought of the distorted legacy created by others that he was leaving. The horrible hydrolastic variation on his rubber suspension, the upsizing of the brilliant Mini into the poor 1100/1300 and the dreadful 1800/2200, and what BMW laughingly thinks is a Mini today.

No-ones masterpieces should be despoiled in these ways.

 

[Scimitar]

I see Ravi Shankar popped his clogs, too. Pity the two of them never got together, for the rubber-suspended sitar would truly have been a major breakthrough in musical engineering.

 

[Clarkey]

I've wondered at times what he thought of the distorted legacy created by others that he was leaving. The horrible hydrolastic variation on his rubber suspension, the upsizing of the brilliant Mini into the poor 1100/1300 and the dreadful 1800/2200, and what BMW laughingly thinks is a Mini today.

No-ones masterpieces should be despoiled in these ways.

Weren't both hydrolastic and hydragas also developed by Moulton though? It is likely that he thought them improvements and even used hydrolastic on the New Series Moulton.

 

[Jeremy]

Hydrolastic was sort of OK on the longer wheelbase 1100/1300, which, AFAIK, never had the solid rubber system, but it was an umitigated disaster on the shorter wheelbase Mini, IMHO. I'd owned a couple of Mini's before getting my first hydrolatic one. The first thing I did was take a pair of big mole grips and squeeze the interconnecting pipes under the floor almost closed. It made an improvement, but ultimately I ended up fitting a HiLo conversion kit.

 

[flecc]

Weren't both hydrolastic and hydras also developed by Moulton though? It is likely that he thought them improvements and even used hydrolastic on the New Series Moulton.

I think hydrolastic was, but I suspected the influence of others and the marketing department played a big part in it's introduction once he'd created a prototype. As Jeremy remarks, it was horrible on the Mini and I find it difficult to believe Alex would have thought it an improvement on that car.

 

[Clarkey]

I think hydrolastic was, but I suspected the influence of others and the marketing department played a big part in it's introduction once he'd created a prototype. As Jeremy remarks, it was horrible on the Mini and I find it difficult to believe Alex would have thought it an improvement on that car.

I seem to remember that he felt even the original rubber cone setup had been compromised by others, hence the after-market 'Smootha Ride' kit he developed later which was closer to his original intent.

It seems that his ideas often suffered when others got involved - I had a Pashley APB for a while and liked it well enough. Intrigued with the concept I then bought a 1965 Moulton Deluxe for £40 and was shocked to discover that, even in a fairly poor state of repair, the ride was vastly better. I sold the APB straight away, got another F frame and have been happy ever since! I expect that the Pashley-Moulton TSR's are much better now though.

 

[GaRRy]

I see Ravi Shankar popped his clogs, too. Pity the two of them never got together, for the rubber-suspended sitar would truly have been a major breakthrough in musical engineering.

With Patrick Moore on the xylophone

 

[barrycoll]

AND Dave Brubeck on the piano....................

 

[Scimitar]

Hydrolastic was sort of OK on the longer wheelbase 1100/1300,

The 1100/1300 had a slightly disconcerting tendency to float when the road undulations were just right. No big deal and it was easy to get used to the 'nyoing, nyoing' of it.
Iirc, the Princess had Hydragas, which was fine on a larger car.

 

[flecc]

The latest edition of VeloVision magazine for December 2012 has poignant news on page 4 about the celebration of 50 years of the Moulton bicycle, a well attended event held on 12th November at Alex Moulton's Jacobean home in Bradford on Avon. There's also a photo of Alex at this event.

So at least he saw in that key anniversary with it's tributes before passing away, hopefully a contented and fulfilled man.