The Moulton was a revolution for its day, being the first small-wheeled "shopper" bike. In fact it wasn't designed solely as a shopper, although they excel in that role. The small 16" wheels had very high pressure narrow tyres to minimise the rolling resistance, and the suspension was designed to compensate for the otherwise hard ride. The whole bike was designed from the ground up for efficiency and practicality and the result was a machine which, despite its innovative and very odd appearance, was able to outperform conventional bicycles - including touring and sports models - in every area. Unfortunately Raleigh didn't take kindly to the new upstart and being unable to replicate the design, produced their own version of a shopper with low-pressure balloon tyres and which lacking all of the unique features except the odd appearance, was inefficient, cheap and nasty. The problem was that it was cheap and the public didn't understand the difference, so they bought it in droves. In the end Raleigh bought out Moulton and took over manufacture and after a few years they dropped the Moulton products completely. Fortunately the designer, Dr. Alex Moulton, was able to re-acquire the patent rights later on and Moulton bikes continued to be developed and are still being made today. Now, however, they are very sophisticated and high quality, and can cost anywhere between £940 and £11000 each - a far cry from the £30-odd which a Moulton would have cost in 1963. Regrettably Dr. Moulton, who also designed the rubber suspension for the original Mini, died in November 2012 but his revolutionary designs are very much alive.
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| My skip find |
My rusty pile was clearly one of the original models but as so many variations were made, I needed to find out more. I purchased a copy of "The Moulton Bicycle" by Tony Hadland, which comprehensively tells the story of the Moulton Bicycle Company. From that I deduced that I had probably got a Standard or Deluxe from the mid-sixties - mine has a rear carrier but has been slathered copiously in blue Hammerite paint, which makes it hard to establish the original colour scheme or model name. However it had had chromed steel mudguards and a four-speed Sturmey-Archer FW hub gear, which were clues. I recently got a new copy of "The 'classic' Moulton" by Paul Grogan, not a cheap book but absolutely the best reference available. It shows full details of every Moulton F-frame model, colour and component that Moulton and Raleigh ever produced, with drawings and photographs and including restoration procedures, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone interested in Moultons. This has enabled me to determine that I seem to have a Series One F-frame machine built at the Kirkby (Liverpool) factory in or around November 1964 (week 48) and was the 87th machine built that week (serial number 480087). It is likely to be a Deluxe M2 model but has lost its front carrier, its Moulton branded bell, its rear carrier bag and its original saddle, and has acquired a sprung mattress saddle, an anonymous bell and (possibly) non-standard brake callipers. The front calliper is unbranded and the rear one doesn't match those in the book. It has a short chromed steel chain guard and the unique optional long side stand. Everything is rusty and crusty; there is slight play in the steering and the rear suspension block is becoming unbonded. However it looks as though the frame and all the steel components are basically sound. At this point it looks depressingly likely that I will be driven to restore this bike to its original condition because there aren't that many around and it's so interesting, and it is an example of a machine which really was revolutionary. There are quite a few useful re-manufactured spare parts available for them so the quest is now on to locate the missing items if possible. It may take a few years and a lot of money - but I would really like to see this one looking as it came from the showroom.
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