Dr Alexander Moulton RDI

1920 – 2012

Moulton is the great-grandson of the rubber pioneer Stephen Moulton, the founder of the family business George Spencer Moulton & Co. Ltd., in which he worked after World War II, specialising in rubber suspension systems for vehicles.
 
In the late 1950s, after the acquisition of the family business by the Avon Rubber Company, Moulton started up a new company, Moulton Developments Ltd, to design the suspension system for British Motor Corporation’s new small car the Mini.
 
The combination of conical rubber springs and small wheels was one of the many innovative developments later refined into the hydrolastic and hydragas suspension systems used on later British Leyland cars such as the Austin Maxi and Rover Metro.
 
Cyclists throughout the world owe Alex Moulton CBE a debt for his inventive genius in originating and developing a bicycle design that was not only sprung but also rigid. Introduced at the London cycle show in 1962, the Moulton Bicycle, again relied on rubber suspension and small wheels.
 
The original Moulton Bicycle Company was sold to the then Raleigh company, with Moulton retained as a consultant but sales of the sprung bicycle were not fully exploited. Later, Moulton resumed production of sprung machines at his Bradford-on-Avon factory to feed the world-wide demand that still persisted.
 
Some 30 years after the introduction of the first Moulton commercial model, the design continued to maintain its influence and popularity enhanced by further developments in 1991.
 
Alex Moulton was awarded the distinction Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 1968.

Dr Alexander Moulton RDI

Sir Misha Black Medal

1997