Folding Bikes - MOULTON club event yesterday pics

Yesterday we attended the BoA event for moulton bicycle club members at the home of Alex Moulton...here are some pics I took although the weather was rather poor....we loved it!...questions welcome..ken

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

Wow a new model with speeddrive crank and coaster hub? It reminds me of old AM2 with duomatic hub.
BTW I've just done upgrading my GF's TSR. Now it weighs 9.385kg. I'll post some pic soon :]

Thanks for the photos! Some of that rain looked pretty heavy!

What was the attendance like?

I would say attendance was down this year due entirely to the nationwide rain and flooding that we are enduring!....we had a great time when the sun shone and even under under our umbrella when it poured... with so many old friends and new...ken

Thanks for the pictures from BoA.

I hope Dr. Moulton is continuing to enjoy good health.

tcs

many thanks...Alex Moulton was in good form when I saw him on Saturday signing someones bike frame!.
Here is an article from yesterdays paper:


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef313bc8-7a31-11dd-bb93-000077b07658.html

looks like you are spot-on...i have this info from a good source:

"A duomatic equipped TSR with a schlumpff two speed speed drive bottom
bracket gear giving 4 gears in all, NOT fixed but with a coaster brake."

many thanks...Alex Moulton was in good form when I saw him on Saturday signing someones bike frame!.
Here is an article from yesterdays paper:


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef313bc8-7a31-11dd-bb93-000077b07658.html

Hi Ken! thanks so much for the pics and the link to this article... very enjoyable reading, even making me laugh out loud in places... what a pedigree these bikes have.. hard not to have enormous respect for what Dr. Alex Moulton has accomplished and continues to seek..

many thanks for your interest....Alex Moulton certainly is a fascinating man and I am certainly going to buy his autobiography at Xmas....the FT article has lots of great photos that sadly are not shown on the online version...but the article is great..even hinting at a carbon composite being used in a new bicycle?

Although being a moultoneer myself, I am somewhat worried that moulton bikes are not keeping up with modern technologies for a long time. In 1960s, moulton bikes can compete with mainstream road bikes of that era. Nowadays everything evolves fast, but moulton bikes haven't changed much from 1980s, in material and technology used.

Compared to modern MTB suspension systems with tons of options, moulton's front and rear suspension is prehistoric. Spaceframe look cool, but I doubt it is any more rigid than modern high-modulous carbon frames that weigh only a fraction of moulton frame. And moulton does not provide any quality wheelset that can match modern carbon wheelsets.

I think it is about time to resurrect the monocoque moulton idea. The frame should be made by carbon fiber, as light and aerodymic as possible, and using industry-standard suspension unit. It may be slightly heavier than today's 15lbs road bikes, but should be more aerodynamic , comfortable, and nimble. With such bikes, now we can compete with mainstream road bikes again.

I wonder how long before some of the concepts delivered in the Double Pylon, such as the front suspension lock and Flexitor elements, make it down to a more moderate cost TSR like product.

I also ponder what financial ambitions are driving the new joint Pashley (depreciated) - Moulton company and in what direction they will head. The single speed shown in moultonguy's photos seem to hint at a more moderate cost 'Cool Britannia' theme.

A carbon fiber space frame would certainly turn heads as it would be so different (a monocoque less so) and could be more suited to asian production processes ?

I do not really think that I am qualified to argue these points as most of my collection are from 1965, but...I think that presently the AM bicycle sits well within it's chosen market.
The high end quality NS machines are jewel like in quality and there is a long waiting list and the new alliance with Pashley will struggle to keep pace with the Japanese market and new demands from Taiwan?
I dont think personally that the new Moulton bicycle company need to aim too low pricewise and the superb ride and design are pretty much unbeatable.....how much more progress do we really need???