ALEX MOULTON 9th APRIL 1920 - 9th DECEMBER 2012
Dr. Alex Moulton passed away on this day in 2012, at the age of 92. He lived a remarkable life and many people from all around the world mourned his passing.
Click here to read more about Alex Moulton’s life and works.
9th December is also an important date in the Moulton Calendar for happier reasons. It is the anniversary of John Woodburn’s 1962 record-breaking Cardiff to London ride on the new Moulton bicycle. Alex Moulton’s Marketing Manager, David Duffield came up with the idea to demonstrate the performance of the new bicycle and show it as a serious machine for racing cyclists. Moulton and Duffield had hoped that Woodburn would be able to complete the ride during the Earls Court Cycle and Motor Show in November of that year, to coincide with the launch, but the weather was against them.
When the ride was completed, John Woodburn covered the 162 miles from Cardiff to London in 6 hours, 43 minutes and 29 seconds, with an average speed of 24 miles per hour.
The 1960s were a time of great success for Alex Moulton. The Mini was already becoming an icon and the Morris 1100 (the first car with Moulton Hydrolastic suspension, and Britain’s biggest seller in the 1960s) had been launched just months previously. The Moulton bicycle had made an immediate impact on the cycle market and Woodburn’s achievement gave Moulton an extra boost towards being the second-largest cycle maker in the country.
Alex Moulton passed away fifty years to the day of the cycling feat, on 9th December 2012.
John Woodburn and Alex Moulton celebrating Woodburn’s record-breaking Cardiff to London ride.
Alex Moulton and John Woodburn in London in 2004, following a re-run of Woodburn’s Cardiff to London ride in 1962.