Wayne Moulton
| Wayne LaVar Moulton | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 19, 1932 |
| Died | August 22, 1995 (aged 63) |
| Occupation | Motorcycle designer |
Wayne LaVar Moulton (June 19, 1932 – August 22, 1995) was a motorcycle designer called "the father of the Japanese cruiser." after introducing specific designs for importers to the lucrative US motorcycle market. The custom/cruiser market continually occupies one of the biggest slices of the important large displacement US motorcycle market.
His industry positions included President, Triumph Motorcycles America Company, vice president of Kawasaki Motorcycle Company and president of Vetter Fairing Company.
The basis of his designs was his marketing philosophy that, "a popular motorcycle can have four different variations- a standard, a limited, a cafe racer and a touring bike."
Whilst at Kawasaki, as director of technical operations, Moulton introduced the LTD motorcycle series. These brought custom-styling touches to the in-line four-cylinder Kawasaki Z1 standard street-bike/roadster model. The LTD style was typified by shortened mudguards (fenders), stepped seat, high handlebars, a 'tear-drop' petrol tank, large rear tyre and short megaphone exhausts. Moulton was quick to emphasise that his design was not influenced by the American manufacturer, Harley-Davidson but rather privately customised British motorcycles like the Triumph and Birmingham Small Arms (BSA). The first Moulton-designed model, the KZ900LTD was introduced in 1975 and was immediately successful with demand outstripping supply. Moulton's LTD styling spawned similar designs from Kawasaki's competitors, with Yamaha's 'Special' series being extremely successful.
Flowing on from the success of the LTD series, Moulton designed a sport-touring model, the Z1-R, for Kawasaki. Here, Moulton introduced the cafe-racer / sport-touring look to the same in-line 4-cylinder engine. The design involved having the front wheel of smaller diameter than standard and a 'cockpit' fairing around the handlebars and instruments. The lack of added engine performance over the standard model meant this design was not as successful as the LTD but Moulton founded a company to re-market unsold Z1-Rs with a turbo-charger as the Z1-RTC.
In the 1960s, Moulton was part owner with Tom Melehes of Triumph West Motorcycle Shop for 13 years before joining the US motorcycle operation of Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, blaming his move upon the then-intransigent nature of the British operation as to motorcycle design.
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