Thread: New Moulton SST
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Old 12-24-16, 04:28 AM
  #45  
onbike 1939
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Bikes: Airnimal Chameleon; Ellis Briggs; Moulton TSR27 Moulton Esprit

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Originally Posted by MovingViolation
Resurrecting this thread because I'm about to take delivery of an SST frame with 53/39T, 11-32T SRAM Apex setup. So ~23-91GI.

It's my first Moulton, so haven't quite made up my mind what specifically I'm going to use it for. Tending toward day rides around the hilly bits of Lantau Island, Hong Kong + some pootling around other flatter parts of the New Territories.

Therefore, didn't want to go overboard on the groupset at this stage as may later decide I want to switch to flat bars and Rohloff or go the other way with a tighter range cassette and a 55/56T big ring.

Also, kind of a dry run for a possible 50th birthday extreme extravagance next year (Double Pylon). I'd be grateful if folks could talk me OUT of this idea, however!

Need to know myself and this bike as currently specced more first. It's going to be interesting!

This seems wise and it's best to try the original set-up before changing anything at all. The gear range with your transmission does seem pretty good but only by trying it will you know if it fits your particular needs.
A Rohloff hub would provide a huge range of gears given the 20" wheel size but I think it would be unlikely that you would need such a wide range unless you are touring with camping gear or are old and decrepit like myself.

I needed very low gears on my Esprit so I made up a custom cassette to provide this using Capreo cassette and sprockets from other sources. I did try flat bars with thumb-shifters as well as drops with STIs but ended up with bullhorn bars and bar-end shifters as I find this arrangement comfortable and the narrower bars I think do tend to suit the configuration of the Moulton frame.
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