SpeedofLite 

From American Cycling (Mar 1965), forerunner to Bicycling!......

noglider 

Fantastic. I test rode once and was impressed.

randyjawa 

Many years ago, I found this old four speed Moulton at the local dump. I was allowed to take it and, for the life of me, I don't see the appeal. But that is just me. A fellow collector, however, did see the appeal, swapping me this Brooks Pro, brand new, for that little bike...

Wildwood 

In first pic from magazine - no tension in chain???? Something was going wrong if the visual is accurate. Certainly a small bump at the front would not have affected the chainline, especially in what appears to be a full-on effort.

clubman 

You'd be absolutely correct if it were not for the oft-forgotten dual suspension on these bikes. The little rubber pucks on both forks gives up just enough and have zero dampening. Just enough for road riding, they are sublime.
The picture caught the exact moment after a small bump. Cool.

Correction, the front end has some inherent dampening but not much. The rear return happens in a split second.

Salamandrine 

Super cool! Thanks for posting. The advantage of the Moulton is that the small wheels are lighter and stronger, and also more aerodynamic. Because of the small diameter, suspension is required. This is to allow them to have a ride comparable to or better than standard wheel sized bikes.

I am definitely an admirer of the Moulton. Though I've never owned one, I've ridden many. A shop I worked in sold Alex Moulton space frame bikes in the early 80s. Fantastic machines. Full suspension decades before anyone else.

It is interesting and unusual to see racing pictures featuring Moultons. They are not legal for racing anymore. I'm not sure they ever were except in the UK. The wheel size is well below the UCI minimum.

clubman 

Never miss an opportunity. '64 4 Speed with all the alloy upgrades and 90 psi Vredesteins.

SpeedofLite 

I wish the article had mentioned chain ring and cluster cog teeth numbers. That is one big pizza of a chain ring!
Also, it made me interested in knowing whether comparative time trial data from the same riders on a Moulton vs standard road bike were ever published or made available.
I couldn't find anything on-line, so I wrote Moulton Bicycle Co and sent them a copy of the article. I'll post their response if I receive one.

3speedslow

SpeedofLite 

I did write Moulton Bicycle Company yesterday. Here is their response:

"Thanks for your message and the copy of the article. I don’t of any time trial data sadly. I guess the sample size would have been very small if there were.
Plenty of ‘data’ but little that can be scientifically proven – John Woodburn’s Cardiff-London record being a case.
I think the rider in your article is Vic Nicholson – he later broken Woodburn’s Cardiff-London record after the opening of the Severn Bridge shortened the route considerably."

So now I've written the Bath Cycling Club...(sigh).
Maybe old Nick (or Vic) is still around and can set the bloody record straight!

crank_addict

Alex Moulton was from a family largely in the rubber industry UK. That likely influenced and provided a better insight the chemistry of rubber in his suspension designs.

It all seems so simple primitive, compression and rebound like a solid super ball boing action but gets the job done.

He was involved with suspension design for these tiny wheeled iconic cars.

noglider 

That's super cool. I'm also impressed with the suspension on those bikes. If I had been able to close my eyes while test riding a Moulton, I might have said it felt like a big wheel bike.

Kuromori

I'm pretty UCI wheel size restriction is because of the Moultons. Racing Moultons just didn't really make it out of the UK before the UCI banned them. I believe another advantage of the small wheels is for a given wheelbase, the bike is shorter which allows for closer drafting.

clubman 

A guy in Halifax cleaned up this Moulton with fresh paint and adding a Duomatic and shedding cables.