Moulton F-frame buyer’s guide

So you’ve decided to dip a toe into the murky world of Moultons but don’t want to spend thousands on a spaceframe. There are F-frames advertised from as little as £50 upwards, so they look like a better option. But how much money do you need to sink into one to get a reliable daily “user”, and are you buying one to restore sympathetically, or just because you want to ride it?

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: a full restoration of a Moulton F-frame is very expensive compared to other bikes. The reason is the amount of chromed steel on them. “Restomodders”, who intend to fit modern alloy components, don’t need to worry so much about buying a bike where the chrome has rusted and bubbled – which is 90% of them. If you are really contemplating a full resto, buy a bike with very good chrome that can just be polished back to perfection, or where you know you can pick up better examples to replace the original components. Good cranksets are fairly easy to come by; good mudguards or headsets far less so. Rechroming should be your last resort. I had a stem, a handlebar and two headset cups rechromed and it cost nearly £200. One rechromer wanted over £300.

The other problem is that many Moultons just weren’t very well built. Frames vary in straightness, and it is common to find the bottom bracket shell has been welded in at a crazy angle, the rear “spike” supporting the carrier is bent, or the head and seat tubes aren’t in line. Kirkby-built bikes are worst, and were generally assembled with little or no grease. The latter can be overcome but a bent frame is more of a problem. Therefore, don’t neglect to examine the bike to ensure it is more-or-less straight.

The mechanical side of things is less of a problem provided you are patient and have a modicum of skill with a spanner. I rescued a 1964 Moulton Speed that had been sitting in the rain for two years and where the front suspension did not move at all, the main spring being rusted firmly to the inside of the fork. It took a few days to persuade it to come fully apart, as the rebound spring stop was also rusted to the “stool” inside the steering column. However, it all cleaned up perfectly well and the nylon suspension bushes turned out to be in very good condition – probably because the suspension hadn’t moved for years! I haven’t been defeated by a fork or a rear pivot yet, and I have worked on some horrors.

Models

• The base model was the Moulton standard, or “M1”. Most are metallic pale blue, but some are a dark metallic red and a few are grey. This has chromed steel components and painted mudguards. Early ones have a 3-speed Sturmey-Archer AW hub, usually with 52 x 14 gearing. Later ones, and most other Moultons below, have the 4-speed FW hub with 52 x 13 gearing. Pay from £50 to £350, depending on condition.
• A superior model was the Moulton deluxe, or “M2”. Normally bottle green or dark blue. Series 1 bikes have more alloy components, as well as chromed mudguards. Most will still have a dynamo lighting system attached, as well as a front rack. Both the deluxe and standard seem to be equally common these days. Pay from £100 to £400.
• The touring model was the Moulton safari, “M3”. Usually olive green, these are very rare and you should buy one if you find it at a reasonable price. They can sell for over £1000.
• The one aimed at teenagers and hooligans was the bright red Moulton speed, “M4”. Fairly common, upgrades over the standard include a longer Milremo sports stem and either a cutaway or perforated Middlemores racing saddle, unlikely to be in good condition by now. The all-rounder handlebar is turned downwards and backwards, a bit like on a motorcycle. It looks as if it’s just the handlebar from an M1 fitted the wrong way up but it really is a different bar. The Speed also has slightly stiffened front suspension, with a longer spring and more preload. Pay from £100 to £500.
• The sole separable F-frame was the Moulton stowaway, “M5”. Usually pale blue, these are about as common as the Speed but a little more expensive. The separable joint is not as foolproof as the one on a spaceframe, so get one that works. There are no cables going to the rear of the bike, as it has a Sachs back-pedal Duomatic hub. Pay from £150 to £400.
• Finally, the Moulton speedsix is one of the most sought-after models. Only produced in small numbers and mostly bright yellow, these had derailleur gearing. These are too expensive to be an entry-level machine, and the parts can be very difficult to find. Cost will be similar to the M3, so expensive.

As mentioned in the introduction to Moultons, they all come in one size – except that’s not quite true. The utopia of a one-size-fits-all bike doesn’t quite work in practice, as the reach to the handlebars is excessive for shorter people, and that includes most women. Moulton therefore made a 7/8 scale version, the Moulton Mini. These are very cheap to buy now. There is a reason for this: they use an obscure 14″ wheel size for which it is extremely difficult to buy tyres and inner tubes. I won’t cover them here.

Where to find them

eBay is full of F-frames at a wide range of prices. If a bike is cheap enough, you can buy unseen, but ask as many questions as you can from the “Checks” list below. In many cases the seller won’t have a clue because he/she will just be a house clearance or antiques dealer with no specialist knowledge. Similarly, many Moultons are sold after the previous owner has died, and the family member inheriting the contents of a shed won’t know much about the rusty bike in there.

The Moulton Bicycle Club is a much cheaper way to buy one, maybe at half eBay prices. The seller will also know more about the bike, and it is likely to have been looked after. To see up-to-date adverts you need to become a paid member. This is not expensive and you get instant access.

The real bargains are in newsagent windows, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. Caveat emptor, but even a Moulton in terrible condition is worth £50-100.

Checks

• Does the frame look straight? Often unfixable, so walk away if it is visibly bent or badly dented anywhere. Racks often get a little bent but are usually fixable by hand, and a clamping workbench, if you have a good feel for this kind of thing.
• Will the chrome polish up, or does it need replacing/rechroming? Cost could be hundreds. If you’re going to replace the components, only the headset is really important – it is unique to an F-frame.
• On the subject of the headset, check it is not gritty or notchy. The top part is standard ISO 1″ size but the lower part is not. It is very similar in size to the “Evolution” 1 1/4″ headsets used on some 1990s mountain bikes, but the lower cup is slightly smaller. No replacement lower headsets are available, except by cannibalising another F-frame.
• Does it need sandblasting and repainting? A powdercoat with lacquer top coat, including the rack(s) and mudguards, is about £120-150. A wet paint job at a framebuilder will be nearly three times more. The tubing used is a relatively thick hi-tensile steel which can survive a lot of rusting, but avoid anything that looks as if it’s been at the bottom of a lake for 10 years.
• Does the suspension move? It can always be freed off and repaired, but it is a good bargaining tool if seized, and suggests quite bad corrosion.
• On series 1 bikes, which are those with curved rear fork blades, look at the rear swingarm where the rubber suspension block is riveted to a curved cup. Are the fork blades, or the paint, cracked where this cup meets the blades? Check underneath as well. Series 1 swingarms are notorious for cracking here and a repair will cost about £70, not including a repaint. Having said that, many are absolutely fine after nearly 60 years. Some were edge brazed at the factory, and these survive very well. Other bikes were welded badly at (you guessed it) Kirkby and are more likely to fail. I suspect a seized rear pivot is an aggravating factor.
• Hold the front brake on and check how much play there is in the fork when the bike is rocked back and forth. Try to eliminate a loose headset as a cause (feel between the crown race and lower cup). Any other play is usually from a worn top nylon bush. There is always some play, but anything that feels really loose will probably need a new bush – if you can get one. There is usually also some rotational slop in the steering. This is less of a problem, as the lower nylon bush can simply be fitted in a less worn position to eliminate it.
• What original parts are missing? A Speed is hardly a Speed without its unique stem and bars. Saddles and pedals will often have been changed but they are less of a concern, being parts that naturally wear out. The white “polo mint” chainguard sometimes disappears over the years and can be expensive to replace.
• Check the serial number. On one side of the seat tube there may be a “K” and a two-digit year. This is a Kirkby-built bike. They are not all bad, as some were apparently assembled from parts that had been carefully brazed at Bradford-on-Avon. Expect difficulty in dismantling one for overhaul, though.
• Check an FW hub gets all four gears and that the indicator chain is in good condition (a plastic indicator protector cap is a good sign). Parts are hard to come by and you are in the hands of specialist repairers who have monopolised the remaining stocks, even if you know what part you need. The good news is that an FW will pretty much run forever with the occasional drop of oil, so a good one now will still be good in another 60 years’ time. Worry less about AW hubs, as the internals are two a penny and, in fact, still being made.
• Sturmey-Archer 4-speed shifters are also getting rare, so ensure it has no tendency to jump out of bottom gear and that it is cosmetically acceptable. The word is that a current Sturmey-Archer four-speed shifter is compatible but I haven’t tried it. Current four-speed hubs have very little in common with the 1960s range.
• Check the seatpin is not seized. The seat clamp can be loosened and tightened by hand, so there is no excuse! As it is chromed steel, it will generally be free.
• If the seller allows it, undo the expander bolt half a turn, tap it down, and check that the stem is not seized. These are also usually chromed steel but are unusually tight-fitting and can still get stuck. Plus Gas will shift most of the steel ones, but use this as a negotiating point. If an alloy stem is seized, anticipate that it may need to be removed professionally or drilled and sawn out.

So you’ve bought one

The next post will be about how to get this hunk of (probably rusty) 1960s metal apart and how to identify whether you’ve bought a good one or a stinker, and what parts you might now need to source.