Comments on: Modolo Morphos Shifters/Brake Levers - Review

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 25 May 2006 22:54:00 +0000

Any updates on your experiences? I’ve got an early 80’s 6-speed touring bike and would like to out an STI-like shifting system. This seems to be the only game in town that doesn’t require me to change the entire drive train. Worth buying? Or better to stick to my 100% reliable downtube shifters?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:20:55 +0000

Same request as the previous poster: What is your view of Modolo Morphos after more than a year? Have they been reliable? Any deterioration in their functioning?
I have a 12-speed Nishiki with SunTour, and looking at options to upgrade it to brifters or index shifting. Your long term update on Modlo Morphos will help a lot.

By: cosmo

cosmo — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:46:29 +0000

My updates, as requested…

After a few geared races on these things, I switched my ‘cross back to single-speed. I needed the other shifty bits for different bikes. The next fall, while battling to dial in the shifters again, I hammered so hard on the upshift thumb lever that the plastic ring holding it onto the shifting mechanism broke.

If you put enough force onto any lever when it’s in a terminal position, it’ll probably snap, too, but there was no real way to tell whether the shifter was at its limit or not. Internally, everything’s still fine, and the actual metal bits are, from what I can see, pretty indestructibly simple.

By: Jeff Grody

Jeff Grody — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:34:40 +0000

I am putting together a surly long haul trucker and i want to have STI levers, i want to do this as cost effective as i can with out skimping on the parts. do you think these modolos might be a good solution?

By: Jason I.

Jason I. — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:19:46 +0000

I find these levers to work great on a Shimano 3 x 8 drivetrain. The additional instructions on St. John Cycles web page were a big help. I didn’t find them at all difficult to set. Unlike the reviewer above, I DO find it possible to shift from the hoods. Relatively new to me so I can’t say anything about durability yet….

By: cosmo

cosmo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:13:24 +0000

Jeff, I am a huge Shimano fan. I was on the fence with their nine speed stuff, but the 10-speed groups, all the way down to 105 are clean, crisp, and positive. You still can’t rebuild them, but in terms of performance, they’re tough to beat.

If you’ve got a pile of 8- or 9-speed parts you want to build up that LHT with, I think you’ll be fine with the Morphos shifters, provided you’ve got the patience to dial them in. But if you’re starting from scratch, I’d really recommend seeing what sort of prices you can get on a some 10-speed 105 stuff.

Jason, it’s definitely *possible* to shift from the hoods. But I sure wouldn’t want to have to do it while responding to an attack or cornering hard in a crit.