lon gisland fb 103

[humBell]

Apparently facebook settings are permissive of nonusers poking about a little?

https://facebook.com/marketplace/item/4291273837858507/

[humBell]

Ps, if anyone does chase this, and happens to be into travel bikes, there is also a similarly priced moulton. Though, apparently it is on Statten (i thought it was on long last i looked round marketplace, but oh well) If someone actually gets both, post pics as you'll officially be the coolest mobile tubist around. Just be extra careful of banging car mirrors with the tuba bell if it leans out to either side on its shoulder strap.

[arpthark]

And another one (different seller, similar price):

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CVRpgue ... tid=wwXIfr

[tofu]

Ps, if anyone does chase this, and happens to be into travel bikes, there is also a similarly priced moulton. Though, apparently it is on Statten (i thought it was on long last i looked round marketplace, but oh well) If someone actually gets both, post pics as you'll officially be the coolest mobile tubist around. Just be extra careful of banging car mirrors with the tuba bell if it leans out to either side on its shoulder strap.

Coolest mobile tubist around???

I’m a former competitive cyclist and I own a Moulton Jubilee from the mid 80’s back when Alex Moulton was still alive living in the family manse built in the 1600’s - think Downton Abbey equivalent - which also served as the building space for the entirely hand built bikes. For those who don’t know the Moulton changed the rules of cycling. Sir Alex was an automotive engineer (from a long line of engineers stretching back to the early 1600’s when his great grandfather Stephen Moulton pioneer rubber). Alex designed the suspensions for a number of significant British cars - Austin Heally 100/3000, MG, the original Austin Mini Cooper etc.

Sir Alex conceived that a fully suspended bike would be much faster than the conventional diamond shape unsuspend bikes of the time. The use of a fully independent front and rear suspension (a still unique and superior design to current bike suspensions) would allow the use of smaller wheels 17 in vs the 27 in wheels of the time. The wheels were lighter and stronger because they were smaller which allowed much faster acceleration. The suspension allowed for the tires to have more constant contact with the pavement which allowed more of the power of the rider to be transferred to the ground. The suspension also allowed for far less stress to the rider reducing fatigue considerably.

Moulton further refined the bikes by copying the frame design of the famous Birdcage Maserati's of 1959-61 built for the 24 hours of LeMans. It featured tubular lattice work chassis featuring 200 lightweight tubes welded together. Which is what my Moulton has - lots of small tubes welded together and lovely lugs.They were laughed at by the cycling world - until they smashed the competition in race after race. This would be a pivotal moment in the racing world and the racing bodies voted to ban them and created standards of the diamond frame bicycle - which is still the standard to this day - this really stifled innovation. The racing bodies wanted to eliminate the bike as an edge and that it was supposed to be the race was won by the better rider. They instead killed the evolution of the bicycle in some sense but did not take the edge away as manufacturers still update the existing diamond frame.

The Moulton is not really a “travel bike” per se like a Brompton - but it has an ingenious separation device breaking into two pieces. Because of the lattice work construction the frame has about 10 times the lateral stiffness than the stiffest diamond frame racing bike - which is titanium - I own one of those as well - a Tennessee built titanium Litespeed. The stiffer the frame the more of a riders power gets transmitted to the wheels. The suspension of the Moulton keeps the stiff frame from wearing out the rider. The diamond frame bikes of the time relied on the riders legs acting as the shock absorbers as well as the larger 27 in wheels which absorb the road shock better than the smaller wheels 17 in of the Moulton. The downside of the smaller wheels on the Moulton is you don’t have as much gyroscopic motion that a larger wheel has.

I regularly used my Moulton in the summer to travel the 20 miles round trip to and from our rehearsal hall & performance center for our Wednesday evening rehearsal and Thursday night concerts. I pulled a trailer with the tuba in it designed by a NASA engineer using aerospace aluminum an a roll cage. It used 26 in racing wheels with drum brakes that would automatically activate. It attached to the bike at the seat and the tongue was mounted on a spring mounted ball so that going down hill the trailer would activate if it started pressing against the tongue - by having brakes on the trailer it avoided the trailer jackknifing and especially useful on steep hills and mountains. I originally bought it for a toddler so that was important. It had a secondary point of attachment in the event of a catastrophic event and should the second one fail and the trailer detached the brakes automatically applied stopping the trailer. By mounting on a large ball bearing in the event I and the bike crashed the trailer would stay upright. Besides the double roll bar the trailer also had a 4 point harness for the kid - no way was I coming home with no kid! After she got too old to ride in it - she had her own helmet and racing helmet and a fan mounted to the roll bar she could turn on and off I converted it with a thicker floor to handle up to 200 lbs - for my 120 lb dog. You want a work out - go up a half mile 14% incline with a 125 lb dog in a trailer! It had front and rear mesh coverings - the top can be zip back like a sunroof and a rain fly. It had no problem with my only tuba at the time a large Besson New Standard BBb in its case.

[humBell]

I guess i should point this out, then, as it would be a useful visual aid for the above discription?

https://facebook.com/marketplace/item/ ... 428411053/



Ps. I'll stand by my coolest comment regarding the bike, but will entertain cooler options for the tuba,l. I definitely think @tofu wins on the trailer set up (and thus has a significant competitive advantage in choice of tubas)

I am certainly open to cooler tubas than the 103 that one is comfortable strapping to one's back and riding a bike with.

[bowerybum]

I believe the correct spelling is "Lawn Guy Land".

[tofu]

I guess i should point this out, then, as it would be a useful visual aid for the above discription?

https://facebook.com/marketplace/item/ ... 428411053/



Ps. I'll stand by my coolest comment regarding the bike, but will entertain cooler options for the tuba,l. I definitely think @tofu wins on the trailer set up (and thus has a significant competitive advantage in choice of tubas)

I am certainly open to cooler tubas than the 103 that one is comfortable strapping to one's back and riding a bike with.

That’s a later low end version. I believe those weren’t made in the Manse but by Pashley which made a cheap copy for the mass market - although that one looks like it has a AM badge on the head tube. It might be an AM3 which weren’t speed bikes but town shopping bikes. Mine for example has Reynolds 531 double butted tubing, the wishbone handlebar which allowed for infinite incremental adjustments and was a full Campy fitted bike etc. I believe it still holds the land speed record - just a crazy number like 79 mph for 60 minutes. Last I checked (and it’s been this way for years) the wait list for hand built Moultons was over 2 years and about 90% of production going to Japan. Since Alex died the company has changed hands a couple times and the bikes are now made in a modern factoryPrices were over $21,000 They love the bikes for the engineering. Sir Alex when he was alive (he lived into his 90’s) used to have annual summer party at the Manse and the grounds at Bradford on Avon. People would travel from all over the world for the week long party. I never had the time to fly over for it.

I also owned one of the rare ATB models. They didn’t make many as they were expensive to make. It had the Third World option and had 20 inch wheels. That bike was amazing and one of the most capable bikes I've ever owned. Capable on any terrain - any where. Wish I had never sold it - they go for a small fortune now. Raleigh in the mid sixties because the Moultons were winning like crazy licensed to make a copy - the RSW - thinking their was a market. But it did not use the space frame technology and at first was a fix speed and then a 3 speed version - used cheap components and was not made well. The wheels were if I recall 14 inches - way too small for the bike did not have the Moulton suspension and used heavy cheap components including steel rims. The bikes attracted a lot of interest from women, but were hard to pedal. My dad bought my mom one for XMAS in 1965. I pedaled it home the mile from the bike shop and thought this is a horrible bike to pedal - and it was. Mom loved it though so we fitted a 3 speed to it - which made it more ridable. I actually still have it. For some reason there is still a cult following for these RSW's.