1964 Moulton Mark I (finished!)

[rmwesley]

This is the second one of these I've done now and this one's a favour for a friend. It belonged to his gran from new and he wants something to remember her by, so a sympathetic restore is the order of the day. It is one of the Bradford-on-Avon built bikes and superficially looked OK, but some horrors will be revealed...

 

[rmwesley]

First problem was a common one with the Mark I bikes where the raked design of the rear fork caused a stress fracture in the brazing and then the tubing itself. This one had it bad enough on both sides of the fork that it was unfortunately beyond repair.

 

[rmwesley]

Removing the rear fork is an adventure all in itself. On both the Moultons I've worked on, the axle / pivot assembly has been rusted into a solid immovable block of metal which no amount of heat, cold, or PlusGas had any impact on. The only solution was to carefully drill it out. Once the axle had been drilled out past the point of the bronze bushing, it then came out with a punch and a club hammer.

 

[rmwesley]

Drilling it out ruined my HSS-Co drill bits, so I invested in one of these... Brilliant (but pricey) bit of kit which ground the bits back to new again.

 

[rmwesley]

Replacement (and strengthened) rear fork was supplied by Gary Hall from Moulton Preservation.

 

[rmwesley]

Various other crud and dirt pictures...

 

[rmwesley]

Bottom bracket thought it was stuck... I love this tool more than anything else in the workshop.

 

[rmwesley]

Rear wheel transformation.

 

[rmwesley]

...and the finished article.

 

[rmwesley]

...more to follow.