Had to travel to help my daughter recover from a surgery, just getting time to get caught back up here. While I was on the road the mechanic that I cited above called me saying he had done a lot more research and had some ideas. He admitted that he needed to do some looking and that he felt like Shimano GRX would be a good option. Since that conversation I’ve looked into the 46/30 GRX crank set along with an 11/34 cassette. As I am still interested in swapping out of drop bars for the Surly Moloko handlebars, he recommended the Shimano RS700 double 11spd shifters but said they were hard to find. He found a seller on amazon that had four sets so once I got to the hotel Monday night I went ahead and purchased what appears to have been the last set available. They should be waiting for me when I get home next month.



I’m still committed to trying out the handlebars and knew I would need to find shifters that would work. Based on the advice above I will be cleaning the drivetrain before removing the old gear, and I will hang on to everything should I decide to swap back to the triple front ring. I know I’m kind of risking messing up a good thing, but I’m kind of excited to play around with this bike. As before, I will update as this bike changes. And again, thanks for all the feedback!