Dave Moulton
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Edward David ("Dave") Moulton, custom bicycle frame builder (born c. 1936, Surrey, England. Father: Edward Moulton). Not to be confused with the designer of the Moulton Bicycle, Dr. Alex Moulton.
Studied at Luton Technical School in England, learned bicycle frame building from Albert "Pop" Hodges in Luton, beginning in 1957. Opened a bicycle frame-building business around 1975 in Worcester, England. In 1976, Paul Carbutt rode one of Moulton's bicycles in the Olympics in Montréal, Canada. The bike frames were simply marked with Moulton's name, "Dave Moulton" in large lower-case letters. He was considered one of the top frame builders in England at that time.
Moulton began receiving frame orders from the United States due to the increasing popularity cycling as a serious sport and the scarcity of master custom frame builders there. Perhaps sensing an opportunity, Moulton emigrated to the United States in 1979 and went to work for Vic and Mike Fraysse in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. He built bicycles for them under the Paris Sport brand that were used by the US Olympic Cycling Team.
In 1980 he went to work for Masi Bicycles in California until 1981. Shortly thereafter he rented space from Masi to start his own frame-building business. By 1983 he was doing well enough to move his business to a stand-alone location in San Marcos, California. That year he went into partnership with Olympic cyclist John Howard and began manufacturing bicycle frames under the John Howard name until 1984.
In 1984 he began making frames under the Fuso label (Fuso is the Italian word for Molten), and later, between 1985 and 1987, a small number under the Recherché label. The bicycles sold from $1,500 to $3,000 each (new) in the late 1980s.
Moulton retired from the bicycle frame building business in 1993. However, many of his bicycles are still in use by their enthusiastic owners. Moulton's bicycles have been ridden in over twenty world championships (including the Tour de France) and Olympic events. The business was taken over by his former employee/apprentice, Russ Denny, who manufactured his own custom frames under the Fuso name until 1997. Denny now markets frames under his own name.
Moulton now lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife Kathy and has become a country music songwriter. He recently published his first book in 2003, Prodigal Child. (ISBN 0-9726693-4-5)
[edit] References
- Temecula Bike Maker Races Against Italian Counterparts, by Cheryle Besener. San Diego Business Journal, May 8, 1989, volume 9, issue 42, section 1, page 20.
- Dave Moulton Bicycle Frame Builder
- Dave Moulton's Bike Blog
- Classic Rendezvous (vintage lightweight bike website).
- Russ Denny Bicycles: Bike maker shifts into high gear, by Darla Martin Tucker. The Business Press, January 15, 2001, page 15.
- Site for "Shaw's Lightweight Cycles" shop with info on Fuso frames.
- Fuso "Lux" model owned by John Katsaras
