Folding Bikes - Fascination with Moulton?

I always see posts about fantasy bikes/folders and the Moulton is always mentioned as the mythical white tiger...

I've seen a Moulton in a folder roundup video and looked at the specs on a UK website and I'd like to better understand the fascination. They seem to be of average weight (around 24#) and they don't really fold but rather separate in two. I understand that they reproduce the road bike geometry in a more compact package, but I believe the Bike Friday bikes do as well. I think the Pacific IF reach and the Birdy bikes also have supsension.

I suppose it may good to avoid lusting for too many bikes, but I can't help but wonder.

I have a Birdy, and Mrs Yangmusa has a Moulton TSR 30. They're both great bikes, but I think the Moulton has an edge in performance, refinement, load carrying and adjustability. Mrs Yangmusa is also adamant that her Moulton is much prettier than my Birdy ;)
But the Moulton is certainly no folder, and if portability is an issue for you then it won't make you happy. Also I think it's a matter of diminishing returns, as with so many things. A Birdy is maybe 80% as good as the Moulton (I don't know how one could quantify that though, very subjective!) at half the price. So you pays your money, you makes your choice...

It is partly historic. In the early 60's Moulton re-engineered the bicycle away from the diamond frame, went with small high pressure wheels, and added elastomeric shocks to compensate for the smaller wheel size. He had a huge influence on the modern folder. His early bikes were massed produced at reasonable prices.

I think if you rode a modern one the handling would be at least as good as the finest road bike, but I have not. I have a 1964 massed produced model. It rides very smooth and weighs about 35 pounds with 4 speeds. Some of its advantages are that it has storage racks with a low center of gravity making it a good hauler. It is fully adjustable one size fits all. None of this is unique now, but I think it was back then.

I would love to test drive a modern one but I could not afford it and they rare in my area of the USA.

I have a vintage 1970 Moulton MK3 and a new TSR30. I lust after many more. I think I do because:

1) They are gorgeous. I love my old MK3 look. I love the space frame of the TSR. The designs are passion-inspiring. Kinda like Jaguar in the 60's and 70's. Or maybe Apple products, in more recent times.

2) Advanced engineering. Whether it's the Flexitor front suspension or the space frame or the offset rear triangle pivot (which reduces bounce when you pedal), you just know Moultons are well designed.

3) Well made. Individually hand made ( the current ones, anyhow.) Mine even comes with a "story" behind it. Seems a kid who worked at Moulton spec'd the bike out for his girlfriend in hopes of keeping her affection. He devotedly shepherded the bike through the production process. She rode it once, then dumped him anyway. EvilV bought it from the heart-broken kid. Then I flew to London to buy it from EvilV. This story is part of my bicycle. Don't get that with mass produced products.

4) Rarity. Very much so for the US, anyway. Adds to the cachet.

5) The ride. An earlier poster postulated that the Moulton's ride would be at least as good as the finest road bike. I beg to differ. In terms of comfort of the ride, the Moulton is way better. The wheelbase is much longer - 107mm vs 95mm. The suspension makes a world of difference on any terrain. The Moulton's geometry/design shines best on a fast, curvy downhill. Great stable, comfortable ride. The road bike is designed for fast acceleration and responsive steering. Comfort is secondary.

That's all that I can access from my lizard brain to explain why I'm irrationally exuberant about Moultons.

Moulton bikes have been used in winning time trials, road races, criteriums, triathlons, and track events. They've been ridden to official finishes in the RAAM, tackled the Paris-Roubaix route, used for setting an as-yet unbroken HPV record, been along for point to point time records and used for PBs in the P-B-P. (Use of Moulton bikes is no longer allowed in competitions controlled by the UCI.) Tourists have taken laden Moultons over the Himalayan mountains, down to the Dead Sea, along the great wall of China, across the Nullarbor Plain, into equatorial Africa, end-to-end, transcontinental and around the world; Moulton riders have transversed the Gobi and been everywhere from Patagonia to north of the Arctic Circle. The long history of successful off pavement Moulton tours began in Iceland in 1962 and one Moulton mounted adventure cyclist even rode the length of the 2500 mile Great Divide Trail.

There's a buzz now in some USA cycling circles deifying the French "constucteurs", those small bicycle firms of the 1930s thru 70s that integrated frames and components into beautiful touring and randonneuse machines. It seems to me that Alex Moultons has done so much more. They've done unique, dynamic "demountable" frames of proprietary drawn tubing with proprietary parts like seat posts, stems and handlebars (yes!), plus unique rims, tires (yes!), tubes and hubs. They've done unique and self-designed drive train components, too: clusters, derailleurs (yes!), mounts. Going far beyond integrating self-built racks into the frame, they produced integrated and fitted bags, wicker baskets, child seats (yes!), carrying sacks and aerodynamic fairings for their bikes. They've even equipped the bikes with proprietary branded components like saddles and bottle cages. Modern-day revisionist historians claim otherwise, but at the time it occured, Dr. Moulton was given credit for the first production F&R suspension mountain bike (yes!).

Moulton fans include the late Sheldon Brown, Frank Berto, James Dyson and Peter Gabriel

tcs

She rode it once, then dumped him anyway.


Maybe another guy offered her a Double Pylon?

Another question for the resident Moultoneers- how packable are spaceframes? They can be broken down to fit into a suitcase?

Maybe another guy offered her a Double Pylon?

Or a minty Safari S.

tcs

Another question for the resident Moultoneers- how packable are spaceframes? They can be broken down to fit into a suitcase?

I doubt it. The two halves are still pretty big - you would need to take practically everything off them to get even close (handlebars, saddle, wheels) - but even then I'm not sure if it would fit. On the other hand, it made it SUPER easy to fit the two halves in a borrowed bike box...

Another question for the resident Moultoneers- how packable are spaceframes? They can be broken down to fit into a suitcase?

With the New Series the rear triangle and the front fork can easily be removed so that the entire bicycle can fit into the largest size suitcase the airlines will accept as standard baggage. I've only traveled once with my double pylon and the airline allowed me up to two standard size bags free (flight to Europe from North America) so I put some parts into each bag instead of trying to cram it all into one suitcase which worked very well. It is quite a bit more work to break it down than a Friday so I wouldn't recommend it if you are traveling a lot, but for the occasional trip you can avoid the excess baggage charges. Of course, if you can afford a double pylon then you can probably afford the baggage charge.;)

Are the new Moulton factory customizable (drive train, handle bar, size, etc)?

Also, I am located at SF bay area, where can I test ride or see one? (I am thinking of a separable air frame with full suspension).

Thanks,

Kam

The DP is safely out of my range. It`s the TSRs that are dangerous- more than I ever pay for a bike, but close enough that I might be in trouble if I test drove one! I`m guessing the difference in opinion between Yangmusa and Akohekohe stems from each of them talking about a different amount of disassembly.

Kamsta, all the current models are full suspension and I`m almost positive the only ones that weren`t FS were a few years worth of Raleigh built bikes that skipped out on the front suspension and then developed crack problems in the front triangle. Could be wrong here, so I`m open for corrections.

I doubt it. The two halves are still pretty big - you would need to take practically everything off them to get even close (handlebars, saddle, wheels) - but even then I'm not sure if it would fit.

Actually they're designed to be packed. See this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDewykleolU

The DP is safely out of my range. It`s the TSRs that are dangerous- more than I ever pay for a bike, but close enough that I might be in trouble if I test drove one! I`m guessing the difference in opinion between Yangmusa and Akohekohe stems from each of them talking about a different amount of disassembly.

With the New Series the fork is quite easily removed and is separate from the steering tube. That is the feature that allows it to fit into a suitcase. With the TSR even if you removed the fork from the frame by disassembling the headset it would still be too long to fit into a suitcase.

Thank you for pointing that out!

How does the ride quality of a FS Moulton compares to BF (NWT or similar)? Anybody has personal experience with both?

Thanks,

Kam

Are the new Moulton factory customizable (drive train, handle bar, size, etc)?

Also, I am located at SF bay area, where can I test ride or see one? (I am thinking of a separable air frame with full suspension).

Thanks,

Kam


I'm in Half Moon Bay. You're welcome to come over and try out my TSR.

I'm in Half Moon Bay. You're welcome to come over and try out my TSR.

Thanks SesamyCrunch.

I sent you a personal message.

Kam

Maybe another guy offered her a Double Pylon?

Another question for the resident Moultoneers- how packable are spaceframes? They can be broken down to fit into a suitcase?

BTW I figured out that Double Pylon is actually the name of a Moulton model.

Whoa! I guess the comment sounds a bit risque for somebody who doesn`t realize that!