Thanks for the link, that's exactly what I wanted. I'd bookmarked the FudgeCycles site before as having an unusual amount of Moulton info, but I'd somehow missed that.

But do you know if there are multiple options for the rear cone as well; and if so, how many? I took the dealer I spoke with to mean that the AM Speed had a different cone than the TSR 8. Maybe I need to erase everything he said from my mind.

This hadn't occurred to me, but it's a completely convincing argument. A more obvious point that hadn't occurred to me, which you also touch on, and which helps explain the wide disparity beween the models I rode: I should absolutely have expected the bike that literally came from Alex Moulton's backyard to be better calibrated than the one that came from Pashley. I've read more than one account before of Pashley-made models requiring extra tweaking.

As for the dealer placing the blame on separability, I never bought that. The kick I was feeling could not have been due to frame flex unless the frame was utterly falling apart; and I felt, despite my complaints, that I was atop an especially sturdy structure.

I don't think the Bridgestone is very attractive except when it's in exactly the right color. I was interested in it mainly because I assume Alex Moulton likes his, as there are photos and videos online of him riding it with evident glee. I'm also a little skeptical of the space frame's logic. (As someone else has put it: "Lateral rigidity, in a bicycle?!") But perhaps the records speak for themselves--and the space frame models are by far the best-looking bikes I've ever seen.