Originally Posted by
rickybails
The swift's top tube is only 1.5 cm longer than your ideal. Could the extra stretch be because the saddle is further back on the swift due to the 72-degree angle (where most road bikes are 73-degree). I need to use an inline seatpost on my swift to compensate for the slacker seatpost angle to get the saddle in the right place.
Thanks, I think you're right. The saddle is most likely further back due to the seattube angle. Is there an inline seatpost that can replace the swift's easily? In terms of both length and diameter... and ideally lighter too
Originally Posted by
rickybails
You definately can get the swift down to 9kg, and there is a seperate thread on how to lighten your swift. The most dramatic change I made was to change wheels to the lightest dahon wheels (the ones on the Mu EX) - they weigh less than 1 kg for the pair wherease the standard wheels are over 3kg I think.
Those dahon wheels are expensive and not as strong (They are stiff enough, but fragile). I've broken a spoke once on these, but I did go over a pothole. I've never broken a spoke on the standard wheels. And those light wheels have so few spokes that a single spoke break puts a significant wobble into the wheel, though it will get you home.
It goes without saying that if you are much more than a kg over your ideal weight then don't waste time and money making your bikes lighter!
Hmmm, don't know if I want wheels that are so fragile. Wouldn't be worth the weight savings in that case. I'm about 64kgs/140lbs so not too heavy. Also, I have already invested in Capreo so I don't think I'll want to change anything other than the front wheel.
Thanks for the mention of the other thread. Found it, I think.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Swift-lighter/