Mike Moulton: Restored

Somewhere back around the end of 2005 I received an email from a Joe Cerone:

Sir: I have a bike that was custom made for me by a Lockheed Engineer by the name of Mike Moulton, his name is stamped on the fork.

He made this for me in 1949 and I raced it all over America as well as a member of the All American Team that toured Japan in 1951.

I won three California State Championships on the bike, 49,50, 51. Are you any kin to Mike?----Joe Cirone.

This was the first I had heard of Mike Moulton. We are not related but Moulton is a quite common English name. I later wrote an article here, and as a result I was contacted by Mike Moulton’s daughter and his nephew, unfortunately after I responded they never got back to me.

As Joe stated, Mike Moulton was an engineer at Lockheed Aircraft and started building frames as a hobby around 1947. 

He built frames for about 4 years or so. The bike on the left is the one he built for Joe Cerone.

Los Angeles area cyclists raced on his bikes all around especially in those early years when the Burbank track was up and running around 1948/9.

Just this week I received an email from Jeff Groman who sent me pictures of a beautifully restored bike built by Mike Moulton in the mid to late 1940s. It was originally built for a rider named “Rusty” Baker.

The bike is built up with period correct parts including Airlite hubs, Chater Lea cranks, the handlebar stem is of unknown make. The bike will be displayed at Classic Cycles, Bainbridge Island, WA.

Although Mike Moulton only built a few frames as a hobby, he did so in an era when there were very few other American framebuilders. So this is a wonderful thing that Jeff Groman has done by restoring this bike. It is an important piece of Americana and American bike history.

Mike would have had to get his materials mailed over from England. The lugs are Chater Lea cast steel. These were rough sand casting that required a great deal of hand filing, and were typical of those used by English builders in the 1930s and 1940s. The tubing is most likely Reynolds 531.

Below are pictures of the bike before restoration. 

 

                       

The other Moulton bicycle

Still to this day I will get emails from people asking for information on their small wheel Moulton bicycle. When an A&E “American Pickers” program featured a small wheel Moulton the pickers found; people again emailed me and friends approached me saying, “I saw one of your bikes on American Pickers.”

And once again I had to explain it was not one of mine but one made by Alex Moulton, or rather by the company he started. We share the same last name; however Moulton is a fairly common English name and we are in no way related.

Sir Alex Moulton, is his title; he was Knighted by the Queen for his lifetime achievements. He is now 92 years old.

His bicycle company he started in 1962 has just celebrated 50 years in existence, and is still going strong.

There is a saying that in order to be successful in any venture, one must be first, best, or different.

Alex Moulton was both first and different with his small wheel bike, and his timing was perfect too.

It was the swinging sixties in England, the economy was booming and Beatle Mania would soon be upon us.

Into this mix came a small wheel bicycle, a Mini Bike if you like; to go with the Mini Car and the Mini Skirt.

It captured the imagination of the media and the public. Alex Moulton was first and different because before that bicycles had diamond frames, and wheels somewhere between 26 and 28 inches. The bicycle had been that way since its invention in the late 1800s.

In fact the bicycle business worldwide was on the decline, as the world economy grew and working class Europeans especially were dumping their bicycles as a means of transport, and replacing it with the automobile. However, to own and be seen on one of these mini-bikes was indeed trendy.

The reason bicycles had always traditionally had large wheels was because they roll over the bumps easier.

Imagine running into a deep pot hole with a small wheel.

The Moulton bike overcame this problem by adding a simple suspension system that consisted of a swinging arm that pressed into a block of rubber.

In the 1950s Alex Moulton had first invented a similar suspension for cars; his invention lead to the iconic British Motor Corporation’s Mini car, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis.

The Mini car (Left.) with Moulton’s rubber suspension and small wheels enabled Issigonis to design a car that was much smaller than anything before it, but with the seating capacity and performance of a much larger car.

The Moulton Bicycle Company was bought by Raleigh Industries in 1967, and they produced the bike until 1974 when they ceased production. Not to be discouraged, Sir Alex redesigned the frame, and in 1983 re-launched the company and the new Moulton bicycle to great acclaim.

The reason the company is going strong today is the same reason it was a success in the first place during the 1960s. The bike fills a niche market. There are other companies making small wheeled bicycles, but the Moulton Bicycle Company was the original, they were first and still acknowledged by many to be the best at what they do.

You can read more in this article and view another video at the end of the piece

                       

Russ Denny builds a Ritte

The above video is pretty much self explanatory; but let me explain how Russ Denny came to be building frames like the Ritte.

People who were not in the bike business in the late 1980s, early 1990s will not realize what a huge impact the mountain bike had. Within a few short years bicycle stores nationwide, switched over completely to selling only MTBs.

This killed the road bike market, and switching my production to mountain bikes would not have been easy even if I had the desire, which I did not. There were already established companies building MTBs, each with their own following of a whole new clientele of mountain bike enthusiasts.

I remember in the year or so before I quit the business completely, my accountant told me, “I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you didn’t make enough to pay taxes this year. The bad news is that your employee made more than you did.”

I had to tell Russ that I could no longer afford to pay him. He stayed on and survived by building his own mountain bikes, and he also contracted to build frames for Quintana Roo, a company that specialized in bikes for triathletes.  

Since that time Russ Denny has made subcontract building for other companies part of his business. It has not only allowed him to survive, but has given him experience building with other materials such as, aluminum, carbon fiber, and stainless steel.

Over the years Russ has built for, Abici, Action Tech, Avent, Beyond Fabrications, Burro Bikes, Dagger Mountian Bikes, Elite Bicycles, Forzza, Griffen, Haro, Javilen, Lab X, Masi, Pharo Bikes, Predator, Quintano Roo, Simonitti, Titan Flex, Tsunami, Voodoo Cycles, and William Lewis Imports.

I would also like to point out that in order to become a really good framebuilder it is necessary to build a lot of frames. Subcontracting has enabled Russ to do just that; build a lot of frames. More recently he has been building Ritte frames and the video above shows Russ building a carbon tube frame with stainless steel lugs.

Early on in the video there is a shot of some of my ‘dave moulton’ frames, probably repaints; the video then cuts to someone called “Dave,” but it is not me. Just to make that clear.

                        

The Re-birth of Fuso

 

Russ Denny, who was my former apprentice, and who took over my business when I retired in 1993, is launching a new line of frames under the Fuso brand name.

The New Fuso will make its debut at the North American Hand Made Bicycle Show (NAHBS) which takes place in Sacramento, California March 2 – 4.

The new Fuso frames will be built in steel, with the option of a steel or carbon fiber front fork.

The picture above shows three different models; all with oversize tubes.

The picture is of the frames in the raw state that have yet to be prepped and painted.

Note the built in stainless steel head badge.

Dave Lieberman, who is assisting Russ on the business and sales side of the project, told me the plan for this initial NAHBS showing is:

a.) That we are bringing back the original Fuso and geometry and keeping that to an affordable price, frame and steel fork

b.) Introduce a compact design, with one that uses lugs, and another that is tig welded.  Both using a more current design and oversized tubing, and a carbon fork, or optional steel if requested

c). Show some prototype version like the double down tube design

The bikes shown are as follows:

1.) Lugged oversize frameset (31.8x31.8x 35 down).  Lewellen lugs, Columbus life/spirit tubing, 6 degrees sloping top tube, stainless steel chainstays, English BB.

2.) Tig welded oversize frameset (35x35x38down , 38 headtube), Columbus zona tubes, 6 degree sloping top tube.

3.)  Tig welded oversize frameset with double downtube (35x35, 37 headtube), Nova tubes.

I am pleased that Russ (Picture right.) is sticking with the original geometry; this is a proven design.

The ride quality and the handling characteristics of the original Fuso is one of the reasons why it was so popular, and remains so amongst collectors today.

When I first introduced the Fuso name in 1984, I did so because I realized there were limitations to the extent my business could grow as an essentially one man operation, building one off custom frames.

By the same rule I could not plunge head first into a large scale production setup. I did not have the required capitol to make that happen, or money to launch the huge advertising campaign that it would take to generate the sales needed to support such a venture.

What I did was to make what I believe was a good compromise that proved to be successful for a number of years; I built the Fuso as a limited production frame. By having employees prepare and feed me materials, so I could devote my time to that which I did best, namely brazing the frame together.

Employees then did the finish work and painting. I built batches of five frames, (All the same size.) and for the most part managed to keep every size in stock for a quick delivery once an order was placed. At the height of production I had around six employees.

Many of these frames I built back in the 1980s, or perhaps I should say me and my team built, are still being ridden today; many are still owned by the original owners.

An even larger number still have the original paint intact; which speaks volumes for another American product, namely DuPont Imron paint.

Over the years I built up a network of bicycle dealers all over the US. This strategy was my success but in the end my downfall also.

When bike dealers switched to mountain bikes in the early 1990s the road bike market disappeared.

Today being in a small business is a whole different game. With the Internet and social media a framebuilder can have direct contact with his customers. A framebuilder can serve the individual customer better and still make a profit.

When Russ took over my business he had worked for me for eight years and could do anything I could. He survived during the hard times by building frames for other people.

It has been almost 19 years since I left, and in that time Russ has built a lot of frames. That is what it takes to become a world class framebuilder; you just need to build a lot of frames.

Although I am not directly involved in this latest venture, I am still excited for Russ. He has promised to build me one of the new frames and I look forward to riding it and writing about it here.

Watch this space, as they say

                         

Recognition

Someone asked me the other day, “Who built the bike from the 1950s with the double bend in the front fork blades?”

That was Bates an East London builder; it was called a Diadrant fork. (Left.)  It was introduced in the mid 1930s and remained popular into the 1950s.

The next question was. “What was the advantage?” None that I can see, although I’m sure Bates claimed there was. Designs like this were done for recognition.

“Cycling” was the main publication for the sport in the UK and a picture of a top rider in this weekly magazine on a certain bike was very good for business.

When you saw a picture of a bike with this distinctive front fork, or even when you saw one on the road, you instantly knew it was a Bates.

Hetchins, another London builder had their famous “Curly” stays (Picture right.) for the same reason; it was instantly recognizable.

An interesting story I first heard back in the 1950s.

It concerned an English rider competing in a road race in France, on his Curly Stay Hetchins.

He crashed and was rendered unconscious for a few minutes; when he came around, he found some local French farmworkers trying to straighten his bike.

I doubt this incident actually happened, the story became one of those urban legends and everyone claimed to know someone who it had actually happened to.

I do know this bike was a source of amusement for the French cycling establishment. I remember in the 1950s seeing a picture of a Curly Stay Hetchins in l’Equipe a famous French sports paper that always covered the Tour de France. I didn’t get the exact translation of the caption under the photo, but it mentioned something about “Queen Anne Legs.”

Another trend of that same era was the short wheelbase frame, or rather a short rear end with short chainstays. The idea was to make a stiff and more responsive ride, but if you overshorten the chainstays the rear wheel touches the seat tube.

To overcome this brought about some very interesting frame designs. Probably the most famous is the Bains “Flying Gate.” (Below.) Actually its official name at first was the ”Whirlwind,” but was nicknamed the Flying Gate by cyclists; the name stuck and later became the new official name.

First built in the 1930s, Bains ended production in 1953, but in the late 1970s the design was resurrected by Trevor Jarvis a Burton on Trent builder. The frame can still be ordered today from T.J. Cycles.

Another design was the Saxon Twin Tube. (Picture below.) That deraillier by the way is called an Osgear.

Jack Taylor Cycles achieved the same ends with a curved seat tube. (Picture left.)

One of my favorites was the Paris “Galibier,” an interesting cantilever design with a large main strut in the center of the frame and small diameter twin tubes at the top. (Picture below.)

The Galibier frame construction method is known as Bilaminated or Bilaminates. Steel sleeves cut in fancy shapes are brazed over the tubes, and the actual joint is then made by a fillet of brass (Fillet brazing.) It has the finished appearance of a lug but it is not really a lug. (Pictures below.)

Each of these frame designs were distinctive and all instantly recognizable; I'm not sure if every builder patented their design, but I'm sure each claimed a definite advantage over all others.

The shortened chainstays were popular in the 1930s and 1940s when most British club riders and time-trialists used a single fixed wheel. If derailleur’s were used all that was available was a single chainwheel and three or four sprockets on the rear.

By the 1950s gearing had advanced to double chainrings and five speed freewheels; this type of frame without the conventional seat tube made the fitting of a front derailleur difficult or impossible. The trend died a natural death.

Today these bikes are collectable and make interesting conversation pieces. They came from an era when there was much competition amongst the many framebuilders; each was clamoring for their own little piece of the market.  

One way to stand out in a crowd was to build something different and distinctive. Bike riders have always looked for an edge, and a different design could be claimed as beneficial to the rider. But recognition was the main objective; somthing that would be instantly identified as a particular brand.

I previously wrote about Paris Cycles here

I touched briefly on the various framebuilders here; you can read more and view pictures of these and other classics on ClassicLightweights.co.uk