The APB ("All Purpose Bike") is based on the ATB
("All Terrain Bike") designed by
Alex Moulton.
Like the PDQ recumbent it is made by
Pashley Cycles in
England.
I like the small wheel / suspension combination for commuting and riding the local forest tracks (for which a mountain bike would be overkill). Cobbles and minor bumps are soaked up very well.
I have replaced the original "knobbly" tyres with road tyres (Continental Top Touring 2000) and added a (Pashley) rear rack, mudguards, lock, my own saddle, a bell and a Mirrycle mirror. A good dynamo for this type of bike is the FER 2002 which bolts directly onto the front wheel axle (2004: now at Aufa).
Bought mail-order (very efficiently) from the UK from St John Street Cycles.
The UK based Moulton club is at Moulton Bicycle Club and
the German Importer is
Alex Moulton Fahrräder.
This Harry Hall
sports bike was bought complete and was a fairly standard bike when I
bought it in 1985; Reynolds 531 frame, 12 gears. I bought it for fast
day rides and it served that very well. The handling was spot
on; it felt like extra effort was converted directly into forward
speed :-)
But know that I have discovered recumbents it has been retired. Also I do not think my back could now cope with the hunched-over seating position (I have two fused lower-back vertebra).
The Harry Hall
touring frame was bought from the bike shop of that
name in central Manchester, UK. I originally built it up as a long distance
tourer (see below).
With changing priorities it slowly mutated in the early 90s into a specifically commuting bike; 7 speed Sachs (now SRAM) hub gears, hub brakes front and rear, rubber pedals, straight handlebars, AXA dynamo and the excellent Hutchinson Blueline Kevlar belted tyres (I lost count of how much glass I dug out of the tyres before it gave me a puncture).
But know that I have discovered recumbents it has basically retired to a pub-going bike :-(
Update 200?: stolen :-(
Our Chariot Chauffeur
child trailer (1997 model) was used to transport our kids around town
for many years. But now they are old enough (5 and 7 at the moment
(2004)), to cycle their own bikes now. The trailer is still used for
fetching younger children from the kindergarten, for carrying shopping, and for
carrying Lucas's bike home again from school when riding home again
does not fit in with the end of the school day.
The trailer has survived the years of *daily* use (and abuse) very well, and we would recommend it. One important aspect for us was that it folds flat very quickly and easily; as we had to get it up/down from/to a cellar for storage every day.
The stroller kit (bought 1999?) was not too exciting (the front "jockey" wheels do not pivot too well) and the roof leaks a *little* in heavy rain (but the children are in waterproofs in this case anyway) but apart from that it is great (ours is a 1997 model, so there may have been changes and improvements since then).
Update 2010: after many years good service the fabric has died so
stripped down to chassis, added wooden floor and now use as a goods
trailer.
Ridgeback mountain bike - I bought this in Brighton in 1986 and used
it mostly for cycling around the South Downs. This was excellent
terrain: gently rolling hills and firm, well drained, wide tracks. At
the time I bought this bike mountain bikes were just becoming easily
available in the UK (I had a choice of 2 models in my local bike shop
!!) and attracted almost as much attention as recumbents do now.
By the late 80's the bike was being used as a daily commuter bike
but was stolen from outside my office, in broad daylight. No real
loss: I had fun on the bike, but compared even with early 90's
mountain bikes it was heavy and sluggish !!
This is the original build of my
Harry Hall
touring frame as a long distance camper/tourer.
It was built from Reynolds 531ST tubing and had 18 gears, Blackburn low rider racks and cantilever brakes: all state of the art in 1985 !! The panniers were Karrimor and the saddle a Brooks Colt in honey brown. Transmission was a Simplex rear changer, Sedisport chain, Maillard block (14-28), Stronglight 99 chainset (28/38/48), Sun-tour ratchet bar-end shifters - it shifted like a dream, even without indexing :-) I have no idea why I went for blue handlebar grips !
It was an excellent bike, stable even with a full solo-camping
load. (And some of the parts live on: the chainset with the 38T is
currently on my Flux, the front
low-riders and the bar-end shifters fit my trike And I still have the front panniers.)
Dawes Galaxy: my first real touring bike. A classic at
the time, and a vast improvement on the Carton Corsa: stabler, more
aluminium, good luggage rack.
But the 1980 model that I had still suffered from the 1970s racing gear setup: 14-28 at the back and 40/52 at the front, way over-geared for touring !! (The Galaxy now comes with much lower, mountain bike influenced, gearing.) But I had many happy day rides, hosteling and camping holidays. It also got me to the top of the Col de L'Iseran (2770m) on a camping tour of the alps in 1983.
(The bike later had a Huret Multito silent (belt driven !!)
milometer with built-in trip meter.) I still have the Karrimor cotton
duck rear panniers (minus badges), the Carradice handlebar bag and the
Sanyo Dynapower bottom bracket fitting dynamo and front head light.
The Carlton Corsa got me around during my later school days, and
allowed me to escape up into the Pennine hills most Sundays
:-) I also used it for my first Youth Hosteling tour.
All I have now is the Carradice handlebar bag and the yellow
waterproof that is strapped on the rear rack in the photo !! (the best
I could find of the bike). I remember the brakes were Weimann
centre-pulls, it had a Brooks B17 leather saddle, steel, cottered
cranks (ughh), toe-clips and Binda straps, and a custom paint job (c/o
teenage boredom and a few cans of spray paint !!)
Not sure when this was taken (?around 1970) but it is in the back
garden of the house I grew up in, and on the left is my cousin and on
the right is my sister.
