Folding Bikes - Xootr Swift Seat Post -- a sinking feeling

Fellow Swift lovers,

I've had my Xootr Swift for about a month, and I absolutely love the bike. I live in New Jersey and take it with me on NJ Transit and Septa to NYC or Philadelphia for weekend rides, and I feel a lot more comfortable getting on a crowded train with the Swift than I did with my non-folder. As a bike too, it is a beautiful little machine, by far the best bike I've ever had. I get lots of comments about the bike. A fellow cyclist called out to me yesterday: Is that a Brompton? He was wrong, but surprisingly folder-literate!

I bought the bike at Trophy Bikes in Philly, which sponsors a kind of folder convention once a year, the Fold-up I think they call it. I got to ride some really great bikes there, including the Brompton, the Birdy, the Bridgestone Moulton, Bike Friday, etc. Peter and Karl both made presentations about the Swift, the design of the bike and little of the background of how their collaboration began at the Fold-Up, and a Swift owner gave a demo of how he packs his Swift up in a bag to sneak it into his workplace. After thinking it over for a few months, making a couple of trips back to Trophy (and saving the $$), the Swift edged out the others.

Anyway, I have a mechanical question for you Swifters (from your posts, I know 99% of you are more mechanically "swift" than I am). I am constantly adjusting the quick-release levers for the seat post. I have to set them extremely snug -- about as tight as I can manage -- or the seat post sinks down during the ride. This adds a bit of fiddling -- oh, now it's too tight; dang, now too loose -- to the set up each time I ride, and it's a little frustrating. I shouldn't be testing the physical boundaries of the mechanism; I weigh 145 pounds. Setting it very snug should be enough. Could it be that my seat post is the wrong length? Let me to try explain a bit more.

When I unfold the bike and push the seat post in, the post goes down a certain distance before it catches, at which point it could rest there or you could use a bit more force to push it in a couple more inches. However, the initial catch point is actually a little bit -- say, a half inch -- too low for me, so I have to pull the seat post out a bit. This requires that I use 2 hands to set the seat height, one to hold the seat up to work against gravity and the other to work the quick release; if I pushed the post a bit farther down into the range where it catches, I could manage the seat post stuff with one hand (since while in the "catching area" the post will stay in position while I work the quick release). For this reason alone, I probably would want a longer seat post. But would this help with the up-down stability problem as well? Does being in the catching area help keep the post in place, even when the quick release levers are closed?

Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long message, but I wanted to introduce myself as a happy Swift owner and to explain this little problem with what is already one of my prize possessions.

John

Let's compare...I'm 5'6", and (ehem) 175lb. I ordered my Swift as a "Medium" with the seatpost cut down to 19". My saddle height (measured from the top of the saddle to the center of the crank bolt) is 26". My seatpost hits the "catch zone" exactly 2 inches higher than my ideal saddle height. So it does look like your seatpost may be too short.

Here are the size specifications when ordering a Swift:


Size S - You are less than 5'5" (1.65m) tall.
We remove 6 inches (150mm) from the seat post.

Size M - You are between 5'5" (1.65m) and 5'10" (1.78m) tall.
We remove 3 inches (75mm) from the seat post.

Size L - You are between 5'10" (1.78m) and 6'2" (1.88m) tall.
We remove 3 inches (75mm) from the seat post and we install a long stem.

Size XL - You are between 6'2" (1.88m) and 6'5" (1.96m) tall.
We leave the seat post at its maximum length and we install a long stem.

You can order a replacement seat post from here: http://www.xootr.com/xootr/swift/accessories.shtml

And keep your seatpost greased. The grease actually makes the seatpost sticky, holding it in place better than a non-greased seatpost. Use a synthetic waterproof grease (I use Triflow), and just wipe-off the excess from the exposed section of seatpost.

Let's compare...I'm 5'6", and (ehem) 175lb. I ordered my Swift as a "Medium" with the seatpost cut down to 19". My saddle height (measured from the top of the saddle to the center of the crank bolt) is 26". My seatpost hits the "catch zone" exactly 2 inches higher than my ideal saddle height. So it does look like your seatpost may be too short.

Here are the size specifications when ordering a Swift:



You can order a replacement seat post from here: http://www.xootr.com/xootr/swift/accessories.shtml

And keep your seatpost greased. The grease actually makes the seatpost sticky, holding it in place better than a non-greased seatpost. Use a synthetic waterproof grease (I use Triflow), and just wipe-off the excess from the exposed section of seatpost.

Thanks, James. I'll order a seat post long enough to "catch", keep it greased, and I should be good to go.

I am rather doubtful that the length of the seatpost is the problem, unless you are more than 6' 2" tall and indeed all of 6' 6" or 6' 7" and have the small-sized bike with the shortest seatpost. You have only said that you weigh 145 lbs., which suggests that you are less tall than that.

My Xootr Swift is a M size, I am 5' 10" tall and weigh 195 lbs. The distance from the top of my seat to the crank center is 28 3/4 in., and I have 5 1/2 inches of seat tube below the lower seatpost quick release. My seat tube is plenty long. My seatpost does not slip at all, even with the quick releases only moderately tight. This same seat tube length is used on the L sized bike. Even if you are quite tall and your seatpost barely enters the lower seat tube quick release area, there should be plenty of clamping force to prevent the seatpost from slipping (this might not be appropriate for providing sufficent overall seat tube strength, however). The seatpost material has a rough finish to maximize clamping friction. Most seat tube/seatpost quick release systems use only a single quick release device, not two as on this bike.

I suggest that an examination of the fit between the seat post and the frame tubes, the places where the frame tubes are split, the inside surfaces of the seat tube sections and the working of the quick releases may reveal the problem. I also think that a call to the dealer or the manufacturer should clear up the nature of the problem quickly.