Moulton Speed (1962)

The Moulton Speed, catalogued as the M4, was the sporting model of the original F-frame Moulton range launched in 1962, and it is the bicycle that gave the small-wheeled design its racing credibility. One month after the launch, John Woodburn broke the Cardiff to London record on a Moulton Speed by 18 minutes and 31 seconds, riding the 162 miles in 6 hours 43 minutes and 29 seconds at an average of 24 miles per hour. In 1963 a Coventry Cycling Club pursuit team on Moultons broke a club record, and Tom Simpson test rode the Speed at Herne Hill and said he would race it were he not under contract to Peugeot. The Speed was one of the home-market models built between 1962 and 1967 at Bradford-on-Avon and at the British Motor Corporation plant at Kirkby, Liverpool. It is distinct from the later spaceframe Speed that Moulton lists today.