Folding Bikes - "First Week" Xootr Review

I’ve ridden my Swift in to work for the past 6 days over pretty flat roads. Actually, that’s a lie. They are totally flat. I live in Chicago… if you can find a flatter city I’d like to know. It’s practically billiard-table flat except for the third world roads which result in all kinds of forward planning and swerving. I like to cycle fast and make my ride a workout. I travel pretty light – backpack, work shirts, phone, etc. Everything else (suit, shoes) are at work.

Sooooo, my experience over the past 6 days on the Swift has been excellent. Ride-wise, I couldn’t ask for more. Previously I’ve had a long series of mountain bikes (I’m a Brit from the rolling Sussex countryside so I had to have a mountain bike!) so moving to the Swift was very twitchy… narrow bars, tiny wheels and tyres. I thought that I’d need wider bars (see previous posts) but now enjoy the narrowness of the bars and the ability to squeeze between traffic. I can flick the bike around with great confidence, ride one-handed with confidence, etc. It handles very nicely.

I have a very standard set up – I got a Thudbuster from point of purchase and have not ridden with a hard stem… the Thudbuster is great for soaking up some of the frame vibs, but it’s nowhere near a full-sus bike. I’ve found I really don’t need this anyway, even in Chicago. The only other change are the pedals. I put on Crank Brothers SPDs and can accelerate away from the lights great!

Folding is a snap. I should mark the seatpost better, but even with the need to peer carefully for my mark it takes no more than 10 seconds to set up and fold down the bike. The great news is that I can take it through the revolving doors at work and happy stroll past the frowning security guards. It gets stored in my office on the 27th floor nice & safe and attracts a heap of comments. And it certainly gets comments and eyeballing when I’m out cycling. People can’t believe it runs as fast as it does, folds as quick as it does, etc. I’ve had no negative comments about its small size.

My only negative it the 8th gear – it causes the chain to snag the frame and results in a nasty noise and scratched frame. As a result I’ve stick to 7th and this is plenty fast enough for now. The good news is that Xootr have dealt with this brilliantly. In fact they couldn’t have been more helpful. I have a totally new bike arriving on the weekend with a post paid label to send the old one back. You could argue that this is what I should get regardless since I paid them a heap of cash, but none the less it’s nice to see Brian dealing with me professionally. They clearly love their bikes and business and want to win new customers by recommendation.

So, if you want a high speed bike that happens to fold, I recommend you try one out.

Jonathan

Thanks for the review, cool looking folder.

Hey fellow Chicago Swift rider--

Once the weather turns a bit nicer I bet we'll meet each other headed south (I ride the path from Addison to Hyde Park.).

FYI, I had exactly the same problem with 8th as you did last summer, with exactly the same solution-- a new bike, which is problem-free.

I'm a bit jealous of your thudbuster, though I haven't had any problems riding unsuspended. I just imagine it must be comfortable.

Enjoy.

Hi fellow Chicagoan Swifter! I cycle down Clybourne in the morning to work and then down Wells to 1 North Wacker. Are you doing the Sunday Lake Shore Drive cycle?

Nice ride. Love the bike in silver.

Thanks for the great pics!

I'm looking to export a swift out of US.
Anyway you can give me the dimensions of the carton your swift came in?

Hi Oto. The box states "880x630x220" - in mm of course. Gross weight states 14kg, of which 3kg is packaging.

By the way, if you do order make sure you specifically ask Xootr to check that 8th gear doesn't snag the frame. I've had a couple of responses saying that others have had this. To correct it you need a total frame swap. It's such a simple check I don't know why Xootr don't do it as part of their pre-ship QA.

Thanks for the great pics!

I'm looking to export a swift out of US.
Anyway you can give me the dimensions of the carton your swift came in?Which country?

Which country?

To Singapore.. I'm trying to calculate if its cheaper to get straight from xootr or to get from calhouncycles and get it delivered via a transhipper.

Btw thanks for the info Jonathan!:thumb:

im lookin around at folders and know metra allows them on the train if they arent too big...

To Singapore.. I'm trying to calculate if its cheaper to get straight from xootr or to get from calhouncycles and get it delivered via a transhipper.:

If you buy from Calhoun they will assemble it and ride it to be sure all of it works before they ship it.

Hi fellow Chicagoan Swifter! I cycle down Clybourne in the morning to work and then down Wells to 1 North Wacker. Are you doing the Sunday Lake Shore Drive cycle?

Actually, yes! I'll be doing Bike the Drive tomorrow. I'm imagining riding down on the path to arrive at the start around 6 or so. But I'll have to stand in line for my packet pickup, so I may not be on the road until 6:30 or 7. I haven't decided whether to head North or South.

What are your plans? Regardless, I'll keep an eye out for another silver Xootr Swift...

I'm new to Chicago (arrived in early Jan) and was thrown by the need to register for Bike the Drive. Suffice to say that I didn't register, hence could not do the run. Arg!

There's another interesting Chicago cycle - the midnight cycle around downtown. The link is here: www.lateride.org. Have you done this one before? Looks fun...

J.

Question - I'm also thinking about buying a Xootr (or something similar) for my daily commutes to work in downtown Chicago and was wondering--are there any sort of restrictions to riding this thing on sidewalks?


I’ve ridden my Swift in to work for the past 6 days over pretty flat roads. Actually, that’s a lie. They are totally flat. I live in Chicago… if you can find a flatter city I’d like to know. It’s practically billiard-table flat except for the third world roads which result in all kinds of forward planning and swerving. I like to cycle fast and make my ride a workout. I travel pretty light – backpack, work shirts, phone, etc. Everything else (suit, shoes) are at work.

Sooooo, my experience over the past 6 days on the Swift has been excellent. Ride-wise, I couldn’t ask for more. Previously I’ve had a long series of mountain bikes (I’m a Brit from the rolling Sussex countryside so I had to have a mountain bike!) so moving to the Swift was very twitchy… narrow bars, tiny wheels and tyres. I thought that I’d need wider bars (see previous posts) but now enjoy the narrowness of the bars and the ability to squeeze between traffic. I can flick the bike around with great confidence, ride one-handed with confidence, etc. It handles very nicely.

I have a very standard set up – I got a Thudbuster from point of purchase and have not ridden with a hard stem… the Thudbuster is great for soaking up some of the frame vibs, but it’s nowhere near a full-sus bike. I’ve found I really don’t need this anyway, even in Chicago. The only other change are the pedals. I put on Crank Brothers SPDs and can accelerate away from the lights great!

Folding is a snap. I should mark the seatpost better, but even with the need to peer carefully for my mark it takes no more than 10 seconds to set up and fold down the bike. The great news is that I can take it through the revolving doors at work and happy stroll past the frowning security guards. It gets stored in my office on the 27th floor nice & safe and attracts a heap of comments. And it certainly gets comments and eyeballing when I’m out cycling. People can’t believe it runs as fast as it does, folds as quick as it does, etc. I’ve had no negative comments about its small size.

My only negative it the 8th gear – it causes the chain to snag the frame and results in a nasty noise and scratched frame. As a result I’ve stick to 7th and this is plenty fast enough for now. The good news is that Xootr have dealt with this brilliantly. In fact they couldn’t have been more helpful. I have a totally new bike arriving on the weekend with a post paid label to send the old one back. You could argue that this is what I should get regardless since I paid them a heap of cash, but none the less it’s nice to see Brian dealing with me professionally. They clearly love their bikes and business and want to win new customers by recommendation.

So, if you want a high speed bike that happens to fold, I recommend you try one out.

Jonathan

Question - I'm also thinking about buying a Xootr (or something similar) for my daily commutes to work in downtown Chicago and was wondering--are there any sort of restrictions to riding this thing on sidewalks?

The short answer is: Yes. By ordinance, the "downtown area" bounded roughly by North Avenue to the north, Roosevelt Road to the south, the lake to the east, and Halsted to the west is a no-bicycling-on-the-sidewalk zone. There are other areas with similar restrictions (e.g., Belmont near the lake).

glad you are having such a great experience with the Swift. I love mine too and use it to ride 26 miles per day into downtown Boston. it has replaced my Trek Soho (internal gears, belt drive, enclosed brakes - in theory the perfect commuter) and my road bike (great ride but can't carry luggage easily).

the Swift is very nearly as fast as my road bike, carries stuff on the CrossRack, and folks up for public transportation on those days when it's just too ugly to ride.

mtalinm, don't bother replying to the OP. His first week was in 2008, so he's probably used to it by now!

Too late.

I'm looking at the grip shift: is it common to have it take up that much of the grip area? I've used other SRAM gripshifts and I'm sure they're nowhere near that wide.

Too late.

I'm looking at the grip shift: is it common to have it take up that much of the grip area? I've used other SRAM gripshifts and I'm sure they're nowhere near that wide.

Notices that, too. Would be hard for me with my wide palms. My 8-speed Bike Friday has a lot more space for my right hand. I requested straight bars on my NWT for exactly the same reason. The "H" bars on my wife's Crusoe do not really have enough hand room for me.

Good looking bike in those pics!

Lou

i would have love the xootr except for its fold. as i can see from your pics. the fold is not that great and you might not be able to roll it.

It's no Tikit / Brompton, but the fold is fine for trains and getting the bike in the boots of most cars. IMHO, too big to bring on the bus and in restaurants with you.

It can be rolled along if you rest the seatpost on the seat-stay bridge.

And, the grip shift is pretty wide...