Sad loss; Alex Moulton passes away

[Danneaux]

All,

A sad day for all of us who value innovation in cycling; Alex Moulton passed away on Sunday at age 92:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology-obituaries/9735676/Alex-Moulton.html
http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2012/12/10/alex-moulton-dies-92#.UMfspMlKhb4
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2246334/Dr-Alex-Moulton-pioneering-British-engineering-small-wheel-bike-Minis-suspension-dies-aged-92.html

For those of us with an automotive background, it feels a bit like the passing of Colin Chapman or Bruce McLaren, the difference being Moulton's contributions (with Alec Issigonis) were more foundational and affected a number of industries positively, from the railroad, to trucking, the automobile industry, and of course, bicycles and cycling.

I wonder if the marvelous space-frame Moultons will continue and will be improved now he is no longer with us. There was a time when I positively lusted after an AM7, and then the Land Rover Edition Moulton APB. I rode both, and am sure I left tube dents as my fingers were prised away at closing time so the store staff could go home; I left with neither, and never got together the funds to purchase one of these marvelous bikes.

A great mind has been lost; sad day indeed.

Best,

Dan.

[il padrone]

Ranks up there with the passing today of Ravi Shankar, also aged 92. What was it about 1920?

[Danneaux]

What was it about 1920?

I don't know, Pete, but it was a vintage year for births. See:
http://www.famouswhy.com/Born_Today/Year/1920/1/2.html
http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/year/1920

Some of my favorite authors were born in that year: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Dick Francis, Arthur Hailey, and PD James.

Maybe growing up in the shadow of the Great Depression shaped an unusual outlook of innovation and self-reliance that fostered a new way of looking at things.

Some real losses this year among those born in 1920.

All the best,

Dan.

[ianshearin]

Im always humbled to hear of people passing on that were born around that time, their parents will have been altered by the great War and they would have been involved at an early age in WW2.
To have survived that and live on to see man landing on the Moon, to have been affected by great inventions and events of history and to finally see the world become smaller with the impact of the internet..... They were blessed with seeing what I believe to be the biggest changes in the planets history.

RIP