Thread: Swift folders
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Old 04-30-12 | 06:48 AM
  #3043  
rickybails
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 117
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From: Lewes, UK

Bikes: Brompton, Scott Spark, Giant Anthem, Epic Hardtail

Originally Posted by virtualvision
I am 6"3" and currently have a road bike that fits me perfectly.
From what I have read I will need a longer stem and probably bullhorn or drop bars to get the same reach as my road bike.
- Am I being unrealistic to expect a medium sized frame to ever feel decent.
You can have a long seatpost, riser bar to get the height, but long stems affect the handling. The main dimension you are stuck with on the swift is the effective top tube, so you need to know how far off the swift (or any potential bike) is from the ideal ETT for you. Measure your own bike (I assume this fits) and measure the effective top tube (the horizontal distance between the centre of the seat tube and the centre of the steerer tube, at around the height of the top tube on a traditional diamond-frame bike (about crotch height then)). The ETT on the swift is 55.5 cm. The differerence in your ideal ETT and the swifts will have to be made up in the stem length. Any stem longer than 130-140mm (with typical angle) will have unusual handling that will take some time to adjust to.

This is a simplification - the difference in seattube and headtube angle also plays a factor (swift is 72/72). Let's say your current bike is 73 degree seattube so on a swift you need a slightly longer stem all other things being equal because the ETT on the swift is being measured at a point on the seatpost further back than on the 73-degree bike. But at your height I expect this doesn't come into it - that there will be a big difference between your ideal ETT and the swifts.

On solution to fitting the swift is when your ideal bike is measured using flat bars. You can make a taller person fit on a swift by using drop bars on the swift. Drop bars put the hand contact point much further forward than on flat bars. That's what I did: my ideal ETT for a MTB is 620 - a whopping 6.5cm longer than the swift. So flat bars would be too cramped for me but drop bars and a 140cm stem give me the stretch I need and while the long stem makes the handling less than perfect I have adjusted to that.

For a proper fit there are not many folding bikes our there that do long or custom fits. Bike Friday is the only on I know of.

Good luck!
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