-
How about a modern steel bike? I am of a certain age but that would be my choice.
https://www.condorcycles.com/collections/road-bikes -
easier to travel with
The answer is going to depend to a large extent on what you mean by this.
he's a British engineer
If Britishness means more to him than engineering, he's not really an engineer :)
light and wide gearing range are key
Moultons are not light, the same money could knock 2kg off if you spent it on a carbon 700C bike. The gear range on the stock ones is about 4:1, which can be replicated with SRAM 1×11 road groups or exceeded with a common 2×11 compact with a mid-cage RD. Tyre choice is limited for small wheels, and big ones roll better over bumps, which can be a particularly significant issue for old bones.
-
Moultons. Any good, or overhyped?
Curiosities. Kinda awesome...kinda weird.
Shameless spam - buy my Airnimal instead - all the Moulton small wheeled bike issues - except it folds and is cheap. Designed in the UK, made in Taiwan...
-
Moulton are awesome bike, and I can see the appeal of having a nice nimble small wheelers but not as easy to travel with as you think, or as light.
It's a separable bike, not folding.
-
Here's my adventure with a TSR30 which was fun whilst it lasted.
Firstly, they're not that light. I got mine down to about 10kgs with quite a bit of effort. Depending on your whip around, if you can stretch to £6k+ then you can start looking at the light models like the Speed etc.
Whilst the suspension is great, be prepared for it to suck out a lot of peddling effort. There's a balance between having suspension which absorbs all the bumps in the road, and it sapping out all of your momentum. It works great if you have an amazingly smooth peddling style. I alas don't. At 30kph I got a lovely bobbing effect.
They're also not that packable. Whilst they can pack down, be prepared to pretty much completely disassemble the entire bike to travel with it. I'm pretty much at expert level in terms of travelling with bikes, I've done Dahon's, full size bikes n' bags and Brompton's but they don't pack that small unless you go for the New Series.
But, saying all that, they're great fun. Just don't expect the miracle bike.
You are reading a single comment by @h2o and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
freezing77
gbj_tester
Howard
edscoble
Muppetteer
@h2o
Moultons. Any good, or overhyped?
Thinking of trying to organise a whiparound for my dad to get him a decent new bike that's a bit lighter and easier to travel with than his Dawes Galaxy tank. He's getting on, so light and wide gearing range are key. He'd much rather a bit of British engineering (he's a British engineer) than something carbon fibre that makes him feel old and unworthy. So I thought Moulton. Am I wrong?