My Moulton TSR - a love story?

[Brucey]

FWIW I have never been entirely happy with the joiners used on seperable Moultons; the grub screws do tend to sever the strands in the cable.

It occurs to me that if you leave the cable longer than it needs to be at the rear mech, you could simply pull it through a bit and retain use of all the gears when the front cable section is shortened to remake that connection.

Also I suspect that drilling out the joiner slightly and using a short length of brass tube between the grub screws and the cable may help prevent cable damage.

cheers

[Mick F]

I usually carry a spare brake and a spare gear inner although it's been a long time since I have needed to replace one in an emergency.
If a cable broke, then I could always just fit a single cable and not use the turnbuckle on the road, and just sort out properly at my leisure and comfort.
It's not like inners are expensive.

I have been considering this.
Rarely split the frame, so taking a whole complete single cable is a good idea. I have some, so one in my saddle pouch could be the best thing.

Meanwhile, this is the very first one to break in nearly 8,000miles of ownership.

FWIW I have never been entirely happy with the joiners used on seperable Moultons; the grub screws do tend to sever the strands in the cable.

It occurs to me that if you leave the cable longer than it needs to be at the rear mech, you could simply pull it through a bit and retain use of all the gears when the front cable section is shortened to remake that connection.

Also I suspect that drilling out the joiner slightly and using a short length of brass tube between the grub screws and the cable may help prevent cable damage.

Both good ideas.

Done the job now and come in for a cuppa.

For the uninitiated, here's a couple of photos. One with the connectors showing the cables, and one with me having judged the length required to tighten the grubscrew and join the two halves. Connect up, adjust the indexing, and job done.

[philvantwo]

If you replaced your cables on a regular basis then you'd never have any break! Do Moulton do a disc brake model, that's what you need going down all those steep hills. Do your rims ever overheat and pop the tyres?

[Mick F]

Do Moulton do a disc brake model, that's what you need going down all those steep hills.

There are Moultons with discs, but they are modifications and not a produced model. It's only a matter of time, and they'll do one.

Do your rims ever overheat and pop the tyres?

They did on a couple of occasions.
I put it down to the black rims getting hot, but I am told that black rims don't heat up any more than silver rims. I remain to be convinced.
The issue I had .............. apart from the black rims since disposed of coz I don't like black rims ............... was the bendy Tektro brake callipers. It wasn't possible to create enough friction to slow the bike efficiently, so the heat built up in the front wheel to such a degree that the tube melted and blew. The rim was far too hot to touch for quite a few minutes to fit a new tube.
Yes, two separate occasions.

Since fitting Shimano 105 callipers .......... and silver rims ............ the front wheel hasn't even got any more than warm. I've tried it every now and again to prove it on steep winding hills.

[Gearoidmuar]

I bought a Moulton APB 8x2 about 20y or more ago and toured on it a few times. The gear range was wanting but I loved the ride of the thing. I never messed with the specs. Did a 16d tour in Scotland on it once, solo. The splittability was very handy a couple of times, for taking it on a TGV in France, taxis once or twice. Also handy for putting in the boot of the car for going on a country ride.
I've a Tern 24h for the last few years. It folds pretty small. I've never toured on it yet, but it's most suitable with a huge gear range. Sram 3x8, bigger range than a MTB. I don't think they make this hub any more, but it's basically a Sturmey Archer.

[Sidlaws]

Do Moulton do a disc brake model, that's what you need going down all those steep hills.

There are Moultons with discs, but they are modifications and not a produced model. It's only a matter of time, and they'll do one.

Yes they do, the Alfine 11 equipped SST and Jubilee models sport a TRP Spyre rear disc brake.... I know, I'm in the process of buying one

[Brucey]

If you replaced your cables on a regular basis then you'd never have any break!

with some pinch bolt arrangements there is a fair chance that there will be broken strands in the cable when the pinch bolt is tightened for the first time . In the case of the cable splitters used here this is a not uncommon occurrence. On the plus side in service the cable isn't flexed much at the pinch, but on the minus side there is no way to inspect the cable at the pinch bolt to see what state it is in.

FWIW I have tried to set up an indexed shimano FD without a barrel adjuster in the cable run (on another moulton….) and I found that if I released and retightened the pinch bolt on the FD more than twice, cable damage was very likely. If I tried to make the adjustment at the splitter, it was worse than that.

Needless to say it worries me more than a little that the rear brake uses the same kind of thing.

cheers

[NATURAL ANKLING]

A steel cable and you could solder the end, Might help with the fraying.
Is there room to sleeve the cable with a piece of say brass tubing even soldered on?
Drill out the cable hole a bit.

[simonineaston]

As an aside - and speaking as a long-term Moulton user, I miss their Yahoo group. Y'day I was trauling through old posts to & from that group and recalling fondly what a busy & well-informed place it was. Back about a decade, it was the Go-To source for all that was Moulton, with regular contributions from the likes of Doug Milliken and Dan Farrell - guys who litereally designed & built several of the Moulton & Pashley / Moulton models. Alas alot of them are no longer active for reasons of age. I'm trying to figure out how to search that archive - there's a Moulton knowledge treasure-trove in there.
Now, don't any of you lovely cyclinguk posters take offence... where would I be without you?!

[fausto99]

As an aside - and speaking as a long-term Moulton user, I miss their Yahoo group. Y'day I was trauling through old posts to & from that group and recalling fondly what a busy & well-informed place it was. Back about a decade, it was the Go-To source for all that was Moulton, with regular contributions from the likes of Doug Milliken and Dan Farrell - guys who litereally designed & built several of the Moulton & Pashley / Moulton models. Alas alot of them are no longer active for reasons of age. I'm trying to figure out how to search that archive - there's a Moulton knowledge treasure-trove in there.
Now, don't any of you lovely cyclinguk posters take offence... where would I be without you?!

There is a Facebook page which looks quite busy. I personally can't get on with the Facebook interface, YMMV. I am an Moulton Bicycle Club (http://www.moultonbuzz.com) member too, but their site it very difficult to navigate and not very active, so I end up avoiding it mostly. I guess that's why I spend so much time here !

[gazza_d]

I don't and won;t do facebook. Evil they are.

there is a Groups.io group for Moultoneers which is at https://groups.io/g/moultonbicycle

More members and topics would be very welcome. I miss the Yahoo group too

As an aside I ordered four of those Nutrak tyres from Freewheel yesterday morning using only the boggo delivery option, and they're due to be delivered today at about lunchtime. That's excellent service

[simonineaston]

that's why I spend so much time here !

I don't and won't do facebook. Evil they are.

Ditto! Not doing Arsebook is a pain, tbh, 'cos so many friends / interest groups use it, but knowing what we know about the corporation, I can't honestly engage, with any remnant of conscience left intact.
Moultonbuzz is slightly clunky, but managed by a volunteer... a thankless task. As far as I'm concerned, cycleyuk is the best place for Moulton discssuon, at the mo'. Hoorah!

[Mick F]

..........As far as I'm concerned, cycleyuk is the best place for Moulton discssuon, at the mo'. Hoorah!

Great stuff!
Best place for any discussion of course.

Underside shot of my TSR showing all FOUR cable connectors. Front mech, rear mech, rear brake, SA3sp.
Note the hole in the knurled ring. I found early on, that the ring would come loose, so drilled a hole in it to insert a small Allen key as a tommy bar to tighten it better.

[philvantwo]

What's the black cable for Mick F?

[Mick F]

'tis 'lectric.

Front hub dynamo and the rear cable needs a connector so the frame can split fore and aft.
Hence the cable connectors and the knurled ring.

There's a big Allen bolt at the top of the frame to hold the two halves together.
Not mine of course, but this shows it well.