Moulton Heaven.

[landsurfer]

Went to pick up my latest purchase from a chap in Hitchin this morning ...

The Gentleman took me into his expansive garage and I was somewhat stunned at the Moultons in there !
10 of the space framed versions, 4 brand new including 2 special editions.
A number, >6, of the MK 1 / 2, all in good condition, some with Pashley and home made racks of the highest standard.
Moulton memorabilia, new alloy rims .. a large box of new 5 speed / 3 sprocket 28 hole hubs .... steerer tubes and on and on ...
The Gentleman is in his advancing 70's and rides his oldest spaceframe version every day .. even if only to the shop and back.
His looking to dispose of a number of his bikes to Moulton enthusiasts.
If you are serious about anything Moulton pm me for his email address.

[AM7]

I've bought a few bits from John over the years, including my AM5. Anyone who buys anything from him can be sure it is fine condition, and a tour of his workshop is a treat for any Moulton enthusiast :

Is this your first Moulton landsurfer? If you get a taste for the ride you might need to change your handle to landfloater

[landsurfer]

It was a bit of a shock ..... nice chap and a great source of parts ....

[Mick F]

I'll be riding in Mercian Heaven shortly!
Thought I'd take him out for a ride instead of Moulton this morning.

Done over 4,000miles on Moulton in the past 18 months, and only a few hundred on Mercian in that time.

[fossala]

My latest project. Should finish it today when the wife is at work. Got a 5 speed sturmey archer hub with the driver from the brompton hub that will give me 10 speed, SP dynamo up front for lighting over winter. All laced to 369 rims so I only have to keep one tyre size as spares.

[Heltor Chasca]

I really like the spaceframe Moultons. Maybe as a treat in a couple of decades. Remind me why you would have a Moulton again?

[Mick F]

My latest project.

Very nice indeed!

Question:
What gear changers will you be using to control the SA and the derailleur?

When I was researching which changer to use for my SA, the only ones I could find wouldn't fit on dropped 'bars. I would imagine it's a similar issue for derailleurs too.


PS:
Just got back from a ride on Mercian. Much faster and easier to ride in comparison to my TSR. I have calculated that I lose one minute per mile riding my TSR, however, the TSR is far more comfortable!

[fossala]

Bar end shifters for both. The hub is https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifte ... d-shifter/ and the 2 sprocket cassette is a SA friction but I'm going to use 9 speed cassette (3 cogs) later and change over to the indexed 9 speed bar end and modify it to close off the other 6 gears.

I'll post a picture of it finished sometime in the next week or so. I'll ride it for a month and decide if it's worth sending off to bob jackson for some braze-ons and a nice paint job.

[Mick F]

Strange that SA can produce a 5sp 'bar end shifter, but not a 3sp one.

Any road up, an excellent project.

[fossala]

Strange that SA can produce a 5sp 'bar end shifter, but not a 3sp one.

Any road up, an excellent project.

Like this one?
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifte ... mbshifter/

[Mick F]

Read the Q+A section.
You'll see that I asked about it.

I'm willing to bet that it would work with my 3sp hub ................ I was fairly sure before but SJS put the kybosh on it with their statement.
After experimenting with a 1960s twist grip for a SA AW, it works fine. The friction idea works fine too, so I'll stick with that.

[fossala]

The Q&A on the hubs page says it does.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hubs-intern ... e-hub-36h/

Do you get any slipping using a friction shifter? I find indexing on the 4 speed to be a bit of a pain.

[Mick F]

The Q&A on the hubs page says it does.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hubs-intern ... e-hub-36h/

Well, there you go!
They say one thing to me, but something else to someone else later even on the same page!
As I said, I was willing to bet that it would work.

Do you get any slipping using a friction shifter? I find indexing on the 4 speed to be a bit of a pain.

With a 3sp and friction, there's only one position to worry about. 2nd gear.
If you set the yellow mark on the toggle chain to be where the shifter is in line with the bottom run of the drops, that's all you need.
Pull up taut for 1st, and all the way down so it's loose for 3rd.

No skipping or slipping in 2nd providing you align it properly. I've put two centre pops on the shifter to show where 2nd is, and that makes it easy peasy.

[AM7]

Bar end shifters for both. The hub is https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifte ... d-shifter/

You should search the forum for Brucey's posts about the 5 speed Sturmey thumb/bar-end/downtube shifter - IIRC the indexing on these shifters is sloppy and the 5 speed hub is sensitive to cable position, so the shifter can end up breaking the hub

[Brucey]

the problem with the SA 5s shifter is that the lever itself (to which the cable is attached) has backlash vs the index mechanism and it is sticky vs the mounting bracket. When the lever is new the backlash is usually small and the lever may appear like it is going to work OK.

Well, the backlash gets worse over time and soon gets to the point that the lever is basically sticking between gears, which is bad on downshifts. Particularly vulnerable shifts are 5-4 (the dogs will only be half-engaged if the lever overshoots even 1mm and sticks) and 4-3. If the lever overshoots in the latter case the high gear drive pawls may only half-engaged, and will probably slip out of drive, and be broken. Broken high gear drive pawls is the most common 5s (W) hub failure mode.

The reason the backlash gets worse is that the indexing mechanism bears against the lever itself at two points only, with a total surface area of less than 2mm x 1mm; wear is inevitable. The manufacturers have had several goes at making the shifter differently; they have reduced the initial backlash but not cured the stickiness or the rate at which the backlash increases with use. The net result is that it just takes a different length of time before the lever makes the hub break.

The new C50 hub's shifter has the same index mechanism buried inside a different lever body and will be vulnerable to the same kind of thing.

There are only two cures;
1) to remember to pull the lever back against the detent after every downshift
2) to rebuild the lever so that it isn't sticky and the backlash doesn't matter any more

I have rebuilt very many of these shifters now. When they go back together they usually have one or two less Belleville washers inside than when they started, and I was surprised to find that I have a big stack of the Bellville washers that come out of these levers now...

cheers