I spoke to Peter this evening and had a good conversation. I was a bit dissapointed to hear that he is no longer offering the steel frame although he did suggest that I call his former partner on the west coast to see if he still has steel frames. Like the external derr versus internal hub, the aluminum versus steel is another issue that I am not familiar enough with. I figure, I would have been safe with a steel frame even if it was a couple of pounds heavier.
Any comments?
On the issue of the easy packing of a folder, I just found a poster's website describing the procedure to fold a Swift. It seems a lot more complicated that I expected.
http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/bf-vs-swift.html
Here is his description,
To fit the Swift Folder into a 29" Sampsonite suitcase (my preference for airplane travel because they are inexpensive and widely available) you need to disassemble the frame at the hinge and remove the fork. I use a cartridge bearing threadless headset to make fork removal easier and no-mess. It takes me about 30 minutes to pack the Bike Friday and 45 to pack the Swift Folder.
He removed the chainring as well.
Anyone do a decent amount of air or train travelling with either Swift or Speed TR and having folded either it in a 29" suitcase?
Is the TR just as complicated to fold?
Darn, buying a folder wasn't going to be as easy as I hoped.
SG