Originally Posted by buffaloboro
Thanks. I do intend to look at the Swifts. I have just spent the past few hours reading the Swift posts & it gets more confusing at there appear to be 2 purchase options - the PA company & the one in OR. Where possible I do try to buy European ( Brompton ) or US made goods even if they are a bit more - is there a huge difference between the steel & AL frames ?
Once again, I realise a lot of this has been covered before , but many thanks
Hah! I believe that there are three purchase options:
Xootr
Peter Reich for custom jobs (new steel & aluminum)
Jan VanderTuin for custom jobs (old steel)
And I believe that there is a new steel version; although I don't recall whether it is actually being sold as opposed to being developed.
http://www.swiftfolder.com/contact.html
Regarding the old steel version and aluminum version, the aluminum version is about one to two pounds lighter. There are a few other small details--for instance, diameter of the seat tube--which are different across the models. But both appear to have an excellent reputation. Oh there is a relatively large price difference too ... the steel being a few hundred dollars more expensive.
I am not particularly up to date on the Swift. So more informative posts will sure follow. But the more I think about it, the greater the price difference between the custom Swift and the Dahon comes to mind.
Given that you are close to NYC, there are several shops where you can see the folders in action. So unless you are in a rush, I would suggest spending a day in Manhattan test riding as many folders as possible.