Stripping down a Moulton

First, do no harm

Not all Moultons can be disassembled in one day. Anything that has been regularly serviced can, and most Bradford-on-Avon bikes will also come apart quickly. A Kirkby bike that has lived outside may take several days. Don’t rush the job.

Buy a can of Plus Gas. Other releasing fluids are available but don’t work as well. Spray every fitting on the bike, including the wheel nuts, cotter pins, mudguard bolts and the three self-tapping screws on the end of the main spar, and let it soak in. Also get some down the stem and the seatpost, assuming you haven’t already moved them.

Moultons are relentlessly imperial, so forget your metric spanners. There isn’t an allen key fitting anywhere on the bike, either. You will need AF spanners/sockets or a good adjustable spanner. A 2BA socket is strongly recommended, and you will need a selection of screwdrivers: a fairly wide flat screwdriver for the mudguard and rack bolts, one very long Philips no.2 (this is vital) screwdriver and, for reassembly, a long flat screwdriver. A fixed cup spanner or other means of removing the bottom bracket RH cup will be needed if the frame is to be sent away for repainting. A drill and a suitable HSS steel bit is needed to remove the heads of the four rivets at the rear suspension block. A lockring spanner (C-spanner – the size you might use for a fixed gear lockring is good) and a mallet complete the list. At some point, you are going to need drifts to knock out the rear pivot components, and you will have to hunt around for something round and metal that is a good size. A long M8 and M10 bolt are suitable.

Stripdown

At this point, do NOT remove the front brake – leave it on the fork, although you may remove the retaining nut and the mudguard. Don’t worry, as the front brake will not fall out, the reason for which will become apparent when we dismantle the front suspension.

Most components remove in an obvious way, and there is nothing unconventional about the handlebar and stem. Even steel stems can be stubborn, twisting but not pulling out. Add more Plus Gas if necessary.

The rear rack is normally fastened by two struts, the clamp around the “spike” of the frame, and a small self-tapping screw under the very rear of the rack, which is easily missed (and often rather rusted). To minimise damage, prise the clamp slightly apart as you pull the rack off the spike. Later racks, post-Raleigh takeover, are only fastened with two large bolts and a U-shaped clamp, very similar to a scaffolding clamp. They are also stamped from U-section steel, and quite nasty. On these later bikes, the upper and lower struts are permanently brazed to the frame and the lower strut is not adjustable.

Depending on the generation of Moulton, the rear brake bolt can be slightly hard to reach. You may need to remove the lower mudguard fixing bolt first, if present.

The bolts most likely to be stuck are those 2BA bolts holding the mudguards to the frame, and the mudguard stays to the mudguard blades. Use a lot of Plus Gas and leave overnight if necessary. In bad cases, it may be necessary to drill the heads off (with the attendant risk of damaging the blade) or to file them off, if the bolt is raised on a washer.

Cotter pins usually succumb to Plus Gas and one judicious stroke with a hammer. Loosen the nut first so that you are striking the nut rather than the threads of the pin, which can mushroom it. Difficult cotter pins can be pressed out with a large vice and a receiving socket for the head of the pin, if you have these available. Some older bike shops may have a cotter press, which is the best tool.

The bottom bracket is not usually very tight and just needs a lockring spanner to get it apart. If the adjustable cup is stuck, a pin spanner may be needed, but this is really unlikely. The fixed cup can be removed with a fixed cup spanner (and a few taps of the mallet), or the “bolt” method.

Fork removal, as a unit, is completely conventional. Undo the locknut with a large adjustable spanner, pick out the tab washer and unscrew the adjustable race by hand. The 1/8″ ball bearings will fall out everywhere, as they are uncaged and there is unlikely to be much grease left to stick them in place. You will, of course, want to buy new ones from a bearing supplier. Pull the fork out of the head tube, dislodging more ball bearings, and it can be worked on separately. Put a good dose of Plus Gas into the top of the steerer and let it soak in.

Rear swingarm removal

To remove the rear swingarm, ensure the three self-tapping screws have been taken out of the main spar. Two of them also hold the “foot” of the lower rack strut. Now undo the nut on one side of the pivot bolt and remove it along with the washer. Apply more Plus Gas and wait a few minutes. It is best to lay the frame on its side on grass for the next step, to ensure it is well-supported.

Using the mallet, knock the bolt out of the pivot. It may take moderate force, but be prepared to apply more Plus Gas and leave it to soak. If you muller the bolt too hard, there is a real risk of knocking the brazed-in pivot tube right out of the frame, ruining it for good. When the bolt has disappeared into the pivot you will need a drift (M8 bolt) to push it all the way through and out, making a neat hole in your lawn.

In some cases – only 25% of the bikes I’ve done – the bolt is rusted solidly to the inside of the sleeve and the sleeve will move with it. This is a problem, because the sleeve will not fit through the hole in the swingarm, and the “ear” of the swingarm will start to bend. If you see this, the best solution is to hacksaw through the bolt and sleeve on both sides. This doesn’t take long, but do be careful of damaging things.

The swingarm can now be taken off the frame and put aside. The steel sleeve now needs to be knocked out with your larger drift. Apply a lot of Plus Gas first and let it soak in. The same caution about not using too much force applies even more here. The sleeve is often corroded to the bushes, especially if they are the older bronze type. Be prepared to wait several days rather than write off the frame.

Once the sleeve is out, the bushes can be knocked out from the inside using your wide-bladed screwdriver as a drift. Plastic ones will pop out easily but the bronze ones may (you guessed it) take a few days of soaking. I have never had to drill out a set, but it is a possibility.

None of the pivot parts will be reused, so you can bin them or keep them as a souvenir of the worst part of the job.

To remove the rear suspension block, drill the heads off the rivets and carefully bend only the bottom wrapover tab of the block with a wide-bladed implement until the block can be popped off the swingarm.

Fork overhaul

Work over a clear surface, such as a workbench or swept garage floor, as you are likely to drop components during this process.

Firstly, hold the fork upright and pull the front brake off. This will take a bit of force as the brake bolt is holding the main spring in place. With the brake out, the spring abutment (a steel cylinder with a hole for the brake bolt) and the main spring (rubber wrapped in a steel coil) should pop out with some force. If not, you probably have a Kirkby bike. Was the front suspension seized? A stuck spring abutment can be prised out carefully with a screwdriver, and a really stuck main spring may need to be dragged out with pliers on the end of a long self-tapping screw (which does little damage to it, as a wine corkscrew doesn’t much damage a cork).

Now carefully disengage the bellows at the top and slide them down out of the way. The lower bearing cup needs to be unscrewed using a lockring spanner. It unscrews clockwise as you view it from the top, anti-clockwise from the bottom. Apply Plus Gas and secure the fork carefully in a vice. To avoid stress on the splined connection, only clamp the steerer tube (A Black and Decker Workmate is ideal for this). You may need to tap the lockring spanner gently with a mallet to get the cup to start turning.

Once the cup is off, there is only a small 2BA Philips screw holding the bare metal steerer to the “real” fork inside. To unscrew this, you will need your long Philips no.2 screwdriver. Look down the steerer with a torch and check the screw head is reasonably clean and that it appears undamaged. If it is a terrible mess down there, flush it out with Plus Gas and a bottle brush until the screw head is as clean as possible.

This is the little screw (from a very rusty 1964 Speed) that causes all the problems

Now proceed with extreme caution.

Locate the screwdriver on the screw head carefully. When you are happy it has engaged with the cross on the screw, give it a couple of light taps with the mallet to ensure it is seated as well as possible. Pushing down, see if you can unscrew it with light to moderate effort. The screwdriver must not slip. If it feels stubborn, apply more Plus Gas and be prepared to wait. You do not want to round off the head of this screw, as that leads to a world of pain.

Once the screw starts to move, unscrew it fully – it takes a lot of turns – and you will normally find that the two halves of the fork can be separated. Ensure you recover the screw and its small anti-shake washer from the top end. From the lower end, the rebound spring stop and rebound spring should fall out.

In extremely bad cases, the two halves may not separate even when the screw has been removed. This means the rebound spring stop has rusted in place. To free it, use your long flat screwdriver in its slot (use a torch to see what you’re dealing with) to give it a few rust-dislodging taps with the mallet, and/or use Plus Gas. It took me three days to be able to pull one fork apart.

The only thing between you and complete disassembly is now a tiny circlip that retains the top nylon bearing bush. Use a small thin screwdriver to prise the circlip open at the split (wipe it clean first so you can find it), while prising the circlip up with another screwdriver. This can be fiddly. Don’t lose the circlip – it is probably irreplaceable.

With the circlip removed, the top bush, the splined bush, the lower bearing cup, the bellows and (if not the integral type) the lower bellows retaining ring can be taken off the fork.

The full fork assembly from a 1964 Speed, cleaned. First column (from the top): circlip, top bush, bellows, lower splined bush, lower bush retaining cup. Second column: rebound spring, rebound spring stop retaining screw, anti-shake washer, rebound spring stop, main spring, spring abutment, brake bolt tube (only on early bikes). Third column: fork with splined connection and integral lower bellows retaining ring. Fourth column: outer steerer with headset crown race. Later bikes have a separate pressed steel lower bellows retaining ring, which the brake bolt passes through.

It’s now time to clean everything up and see what you’ve got.

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.

Why a Moulton (or why not)?

So they’re old or expensive and they’ve never quite caught on. Why might you want one. Well:

• The suspension beats you up less than a normal bike on a ride with poor quality roads. This really is a thing; you can get off a Moulton after 60 miles and feel far less stiff and sore than on a conventional bike.
• They attract attention, particularly the later spaceframes. Kids and women seem to love them. Men in white vans, on the other hand, shout homophobic slurs, and drunks bellow incoherently at you as their befogged brain tries and fails to process what they see before them. Definitely a bike for those who don’t like to be anonymous.
• The bespoke luggage carrying options – if you can afford them – barely affect the ride and handling, because they are carried only on the main frame, and quite low down.
• The bike is easier to mount than one with a top tube, the early F-frames particularly so. The spaceframes are somewhat taller.
• The small wheels are very strong, assuming a halfway competent build.
• Resale value is very good if you decide a Moulton isn’t for you, or want to trade up.
• They are good fun, especially crashing through potholes and over speed cushions that you would normally try to avoid.
• The spaceframes are reasonably compact and most can be quickly split in two for easier transport by car (or train, if you have two very large bags to put the halves in). F-frames are quite large and only the Stowaway model can be separated.
• There is an owners’ club which is a useful source of parts, information or inspiration.

But there are reasons they haven’t replaced the diamond frame bicycle, and it’s not just about availability and price:

• They are fairly heavy. A TSR with reasonably lightweight road components is a similar weight to a fully-specced touring bike (28lb), substantially above the weight of a modern road racing bike, or even an audax-style bike (which would be a fairer comparison) A series 2 F-frame Moulton deluxe with two racks, lighting and all the chromed steel parts is about 40lb.
• Rolling resistance is higher because of the small wheels, particularly on rough roads. The suspension offsets this to some degree, but expect a Moulton to be 1-2mph slower over a long ride.
• A Moulton doesn’t like to be wrestled up hills, honking out of the saddle. There is no lockout for the front suspension and much of your effort goes into making it pogo up and down. This means you really need low gears to spin up hills, and few Moultons have those gears. In fact, the F-frames have laughably high gearing as standard. The triple chainset spaceframes are most suitable for low gears, but the bicycle industry is killing off triples as quickly as possible. The huge rear cassettes that are now in vogue simply won’t work on a Moulton, because a long-arm rear derailleur is too close to the road. So: they’re good for strong riders who can sit in the saddle and grind.
• The quirky frame design means there is nowhere really good to carry a water bottle. The TSR has bottle mounts, but one is unreachable while riding and the other occupies the same space as your knees when pedalling. Band-on bottle bosses behind the seatpost are a good option, if you are tall enough and eschew a saddlebag.
• The suspension needs very infrequent maintenance but it can be tricky to work on. F-frames are harder than spaceframes in this respect, and overhauling one requires special tools like a pop rivet gun, a drill, two very long screwdrivers, a lockring spanner and a ratchet strap. You’ll see why dealers didn’t like them in the 1960s.
• Parts availability can be poor. Moulton Bicycle Company guarantee to provide parts for anything made in the spaceframe era – or at least an alternative part to keep the bike on the road. You may have to wait a while and enquire direct, as there are very few Moulton retailers. No official new parts for F-frames have been made for decades. Some consumables like suspension bushes, rear pivots and rubber bellows have been remanufactured and were available through Moulton Preservation (an independent venture), but this is closed at the time of writing. Cannibalising another F-frame is often the only option, even though it takes another Moulton off the road. The lower part of the headset and the rear suspension block are not available new at all, and are parts unique to an F-frame.

Moultons – an introduction

Most cyclists worldwide have probably never heard of a Moulton bike or, if they have, it’s just a vague awareness. The small-wheeled bike that was supposed to end the dominance of the diamond frame emerged in the early 1960s, burned brightly for a few short years then disappeared without trace. Years later, it was relaunched with similar objectives but with a radically different appearance and construction, this time with no mass-market intentions at all. Hence Moultons are a rare sight, because the volume-produced old ones have been scrapped (or are still mouldering in sheds and gardens) and new ones are a niche and expensive option for anyone contemplating a new bike.

The fundamental difference between a Moulton and a “normal” bike is that the Moulton has rather small wheels and full suspension. The frame is also, to a greater or lesser extent, “step-through”, with no top tube to make mounting and dismounting awkward. They also only come in one size. Well, almost – more of that later.

Moultons were the brainchild of Dr Alex Moulton, an engineer specialising in rubber for automotive uses, most famously in the original Mini car, and heir to the Spencer-Moulton rubber empire. He set out to design a better bicycle, and the original 1962 Moulton was the result. With its “lazy-F” frame and 16″ wheels, it took the world – or at least Britain – by storm, and production had to be quickly stepped up and outsourced to meet demand. The shape looks dated now with its huge rear carrying rack and “all-rounder” handlebar but, at the time, the bike with the mini-wheels was a modernist 60s icon, along with the Mini car and the mini-skirt.

Production wasn’t without its problems: a batch of forks turned out to be insufficiently brazed by a contractor and had to be recalled, the original rear swingarm often cracked, and build quality could be truly appalling. Moultons built in Kirkby -in a factory that normally made washing machines – are often misaligned, poorly brazed and welded and nearly always assembled without grease. Nearly 60 years later, a Kirkby-built bike (identifiable by a “K” and a two-digit year on one side of the seat lug) gives most restorers a shudder. They do come apart, but it can take a lot of time and effort. Moultons built in Bradford-on-Avon, in the shadow of the Moulton ancestral home, tend to be assembled with far more care and attention.

These “series 1” bikes exposed some small weaknesses in the design that were addressed in 1965 with “series 2” bikes. This distinction was never used in marketing, the bikes being branded just as before. However, series 2 bikes are easy to spot as they have a straight (and far stronger) rear swingarm, a seat tube that is wider from side-to-side instead of from front-to-back, and truly horrible white plastic guides for brake and gear cables.

Series 2 Moulton standard, repainted from original Kingfisher Blue colour

By now, sales were on the slide. Dealers didn’t like working on Moultons due to their complexity, and other bike manufacturers had launched their own small-wheeled bikes without any suspension. One of these was the Raleigh RSW and, in 1967, it was to Raleigh that Moulton eventually sold out when the business became unprofitable.

Raleigh retained Alex Moulton as a design consultant, and the “Mk III” Moulton emerged in 1970. This was a substantial redesign with a proper rear triangle instead of a swingarm. Unfortunately, it was also extremely heavy and featured Raleigh’s own dead-end 26tpi thread standard for fork and bottom bracket. You won’t see many, as it was never a big seller, and in 1974, Raleigh pulled the plug on Moultons altogether.

Alex Moulton wanted to continue with his concept but Raleigh owned most of the rights to the design. After working on alternative designs for many years, the AM series (Alex Moulton Limited) emerged, featuring a girder-like “spaceframe” and slightly larger wheels. Most Moultons since have featured this spaceframe, although the exact suspension design varies considerably between models. A joint venture with Pashley Cycles – since merged with Alex Moulton Limited to form the Moulton Bicycle Company – allowed more affordable versions of the spaceframe to be built at the Pashley factory in Stratford-Upon-Avon. These “Pashley Moultons”, such as the APB and TSR, have”hairpin” tubes that wrap around the head and seat tubes, and it is doubtful that they are true spaceframes – but they have the same look, and sometimes that’s what sells a bike.

TSR set up as a 9-speed. Reputedly the last TSR ever sold as a frameset-only, for custom build.

New Moultons range in price from about 2,000 GBP to 20,000 GBP (2021 prices) which is a lot of money for a steel bike. They sell as quickly as they can be made, but production capacity is low and they will never be the mass-market bike that the original F-frame was intended to be.

As one of few truly British bike manufacturers remaining in the 21st century, Moultons are often confused with Brompton folding bikes, especially as both use small wheels. Moultons do not fold, although many can be split in half for easier transport. There is. nevertheless, a symbiotic relationship between the two. The Brompton would not have existed without the Moulton; it derives its 16″/349 wheels and the rear suspension design from the original series. Likewise, the continued sight of F-frame Moultons on the roads owes much to the existence of Brompton, which has secured and expanded the availability of good tyres in the original Moulton wheel size.

In the next blog, I’ll go into some of the pros and cons of owning one of these quirky machines. The bike that was supposed to change the world and didn’t quite make it.