Folding Bikes - moulton 4 speed

I just came into posseion of a bicycle that saya moulton 4 speed on it.What if any information can anybody give about it?It is like no other bike I have ever seen. It has a front and rear carrier.Small wheels. It is in very good condition.I rode it today but it was a different ride than what I am use to.I would just like to know a little about it if anyone cares to pespond. Thanks.

The book-THE MOULTON BICYCLE by Tony Hadland- will tell you everything you need to know about the Moulton Bicycle.

Wikipedia has a decent summary entry about the Moulton Bicycle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulton_Bicycle

Think it was built in the 1960s.
If its got its original rear wheel with the 4 speed hub in it.
it will have a number on it.
thats the build date of the wheel.
be something like 65 7.
year and month

It's a very good bike, and still rides much better than most modern small wheel bikes.

Just make sure you buy quality tyres for it because some of the cheap tyres in that wheel size have high rolling resistance.

What I don't like about the Moultons - the "erector set" models anyway - and suspension bikes in general, is they are too complicated. I think the beauty of the bicycle is the simplicity of the machine. My 2 cents.

Yeah, this won't be a spaceframe Moulton; it'll be an F-frame. Still some complexity, primarily in the front fork, but way simpler than, for instance, a dual suspension mountain bike.

check out my moultons here?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/worksmoulton/

@ moultonguy.. You have a lot of nice moultons!!!
I dream of a nice white speed with an 80t front ring for the faster commute days! ;)

Thanks for all the replies.I will look at the rear hub tomorrow.I have not had one person that knew what the bike was yet when I have taken it out.The reaction is,"what is that". After a minute when they see all the detail this bike has the next thing I hear is "MAY I ride it?" I am really enjoying all the thumbs up and comments about it. I wish I had gotten it in the early summer so I could have taken it on some local runs but Ill have all winter to detail her out so That heads will turn come spring.Thanks again to everybody that took the time to answer back.People like you are what makes a newbie feel good.:thumb::thumb:

I have a Moulton Speed 4 that was purchased for my mother in 1965. I'm currently cleaning it up and will be putting it back on the road. There is a Moulton Society and web sites on the WEb that discribe how to service the front and rear suspension. Also there is plenty of info on Dr. Moulton who designed the bike and suspensions for Triumph cars.

Here are some picture of my Moulton, currently disassembled:

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/VT_Bent_Rider/Moulton/

Brian

He didn't design suspension for Triumph's, it was British Leyland. He was responsible for Hydrolastic as used on Austin, Morris and other cars (including the early Mini). To my knowledge he never worked for Triumph (who were hardly well known for cutting edge suspension!)

Boy what a small world it is.The bike you are working on is the same bike that I have same color even.I checked the rear hub today and if I am reading it right it is a model fw,year 65,with a number 6 next. I am guessing the 6 stands for the month of june.It also has another number under the letters usa.Do you know if that numbers is just a serial number or does it have another purpose?I also found another number on the tube below the seat. Before I do any riding I am going to do my homework here on the net to learn how to adjust tweek and fix this machine.Thanks for putting the picture up,It was like looking at my on bike.I am new to this computer stuff so as soon as I get the chanch I am going to try and get the picture posting thing down. Esserville

I belive one of the letters stands for the factory where the bike was built. I thought it was K for Kirby, but I'm just guessing. I have an email from Moultonguy (I believe) that details the layout of the serial number, but I'm on vacation and not on my machine, so I don't have it handy. When I get back home next week I'll forward it along or perhaps someone herewill post the info.

Brian

I should have mentioned that those front/rear carriers had big wicker baskets on them. At least they did when I was growing up in the 60's. The bike also had a tire pump that mounted on the rear carrier, you should be able to see the stub mount for it. Neither of those items survived, but I'm very happy to have the bike. Many happy memories!

Brian