Hi, I’ve just skimmed through the whole thread!!!
very useful
i just recently bought a pristine, lovingly maintained swift here in the Uk.
I did have a mezzo before and sold it before buying the swift. It was a bit of a stretch to afford the swift but I’m glad I did. It’s a completely different prospect of course, but it suits my needs a lot better than the mezzo (as well as my size - the mezzo was really too small leg length wise and cramped reach wise). I’m not particularly tall but my leg length is quite long.
I’m in Sheffield which has very many, very steep hills and it didn’t take long for me to realise that I was a bit too overgeared! I live half way up a hill that is steep enough to need hand rails along the pavement! I was very fortunate to find an unused 11-32 for sale on eBay for not too much money.
So far it’s been a delight to have this bike. Easy to get in and out of buildings, it stashes neatly and flat against the wall in the cellar or workspace; easy to carry up narrow cellar steps too.
Many years ago I had a Pashley version of the moulton (apb?) so I’m re-acquainting with small wheels again. It’s again, a very different bike, a bit less plush a ride but very nippy. I read along the way that it was designed for couriers to be able to carry with them in and out of buildings. I get that ( I couriered in Dublin a v long time ago).
It’s been a life saver for me to carry the bike in and out of my work place while rushing between appointments and getting online for meetings (I’m not a courier any more, I am a teacher at uni here.)
i also love that it is so easy to put in the car and have with me on travels when I wouldn’t have otherwise done so. Especially when we’re being discouraged from taking public transport right now.
I love it.
i did need to get new qr skewers for the seat post and a little cheap Chinese plastic chain keeper off eBay. That was advertised as for folding bikes but needed heating and stretching a bit to fit round the swift’s chubby seat tube. Changing to the 11-32 cassette had caused it to start dropping the chain occasionally when changing down to the smaller cogs, but the chain keeper seems to work. Not bad for a couple of quid!
apart from that it’s as I got it. I did find the seat post slipped initially but since I fold it regularly I decided to try cleaning the grease I had applied back off it and it now seems fine. The very thick metal combined with the fact that the seat skewer is just about the same height as the weld where the top tube attaches to the seat tube appears to make it inflexible and hard to tighten. I tried a loaned telescopic tern/ dahon seat post but it’s took loose to tighten in the 2 clamps, I’d need to make some kind of very thin shim which I see someone else already made in copper earlier in the thread. I’m not sure I will try to do anything like that even though a telescopic post would mean it could fold smaller. I have a 580mm post which I appreciate when riding but makes the fold a bit bigger. Oh, and I found a very cheap second hand stem that is longer and lower than the stock ones which is super handy.
Lovely bike, such a shame it’s discontinued. Maybe it’ll get another lease of life in the future.
this thread has been so helpful.