Hi gang,
Mike beat me to it but it's my understanding that it was the record setting Moulton AM7 that had 130 spacing in 1982 when introduced but I may be mistaken as Tony Hadland has done lots of research, but the bike I do believe was launched in 1982 as in 1983 a number of Paris Brest Paris participants from a small British contingent ( 80 or so total riders as I recall verses 90 or so Americans that year for reference) were already using Moultons with 130mm spacing extensively in August 1983. This is of course well within the classic timeline.
These bikes were manufactured in the ten's of thousands (if not hundred's) and Shimano adopted the standard for their 8 speed road groups when they were intoduced in the 1990 ish period (not precise but close). Why would a someone use 130mm rear spacing for a 7 speed freewheel? You would think less dish which would be stronger but the small compact 17 inch Moulton wheel was already extremely strong as people have ridden 28 spoke rear wheels with camping gear around the world with no trouble. The reason was more precision shifting. Ever use a Campagnolo NR or SR shifter with Suntour ultra 6 or 7? It works ( I raced with it) but very imprecise. The Suntour Slant Parallelogram works much better but it's still somewhat marginal. He too a Stock Regina America wide range 6 speed freewheel, standard spaced (wide that is), removed the two outside thread on cogs and replaced them with a specially made 3 cog cluster (standard wide spacing) of either 9-10-11 teeth (or similar) allowing for 7 widely spaced gears that shifted somewhat precisely. The 9 tooth cog also allowed for a proportionally high gear to mate with the smaller than standard 17 inch wheels.
It should be noted that the first commercial use of a 6 speed rear freewheel was in about 1965 on the Moulton Speed 6 racer/tourer.
Other classic innovations that Moulton pioneered that have found their way into modern bicycles.
Cannondale style headshock, introduced in 1962 by AM, referenced in their patent application.
First commercial use 13 cog, and 9 then 10.
First commercial use 9 cog cassette, predating Shaman by several years.
First fully suspended Road Bike to gain commercial acceptance, 1962.
First fully suspended Track bike used in competition 1962.
First successful commercial use of full suspension in Mountain bikes in 1987.
First commercial use of cable splitters for frame separation and transport on a wide scale.
First commercially viable separable (1964) frameset for transport introduced on a wide scale.
First manufacturer to adopt very small wheels on adult road bikes with high pressure tires with commercial success (very imitated since then in Europe and now on America a'la'bike Friday, etc.)
I'm sure Hilary Stone can provide several other firsts that slinked out of Alex Moulton's workshop and were adopted as an industry standard if he cares to respond.
Many future products, standards, industrial processes have been developed and will be adopted by the cycling industry over time that got their start in the small workshops in Bradford on Avon. I can hardly wait.
Yours in Cycling,
Gilbert Anderson Raleigh, NC USA
In a message dated 7/12/02 6:14:40 PM, self@fuse.net writes:
<< The Moulton AM7 came with 130 mm spacing in 1983. Reason was to use 7 cogs
without a narrow chain (per Tony Hadland's book).
There are various claims that Moulton had the 1st production bike with a
particular innovation (i.e. 6 speed block on the Speedsix in mid 60's).
Again , framebuilders were already doing the same thing, but Moulton used
it on a production bike.
Mike Self
Cincinnati, OH
From: "Jim Cole" <jcole@memphis.edu>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 12:19 PM
Subject: [CR]Intro of 130mm spacing???
> When was 130mm spacing intoduced? Were the very last generation of
> classic NR (ok, Record or whatever) hubs offered in 130mm spacing or was
> it first available with the Triomphe/Victory/C-Record era hubs? I
> realize this is venturing in to off-topicville, but would appreciate any
> insight. Thanks!
>
> Jim Cole
> Memphis, TN >>
Gilbert Anderson
The North Road Bicycle Company
your bicycle outfitter
519 W. North St.
Raleigh, NC 27603
USA
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