Originally Posted by steveonbike

I just thought I'd add my $0.02 after three months of Xootr Swift ownership.

I bought my bike from Trophy Bikes in Philly - great people to deal with and were willing to make sure I got the cheapest shipping rate available (made a huge difference, as I live in Australia).

After a few weeks I had what seem to be the expected problems: creaking while riding out of the saddle, cured by regreasing the seatpost, and an alarming rocking sensation in the front end of the bike as the crown race seated itself.

My modifications have included installing drop handlebars, ultegra rear mech, 8-sp bar end shifter, gutted campag ergo levers, cantilever brakes, dura-ace crank. The right hand cup of the stock bottom bracket was screwed in extremely tightly and only extracted with considerable effort.

I cut the head off the stock seatpost, and drilled, slotted, shimmed and clamped a 25mm time post inside to get the setback I needed for my brooks saddle.

The chain guard was put into the parts bin, replaced with a hose clamp around the seat tube with a longer bolt holding two washers with a spacer in between. This arrangement works well with no rubbing or dropping of the chain.

Primo comets have replaced the stock kenda tyres and improved the whole package considerably.

In hindsight I’d have been better off buying a bare frameset; however I was initially unsure how far I was going to take this projectJ

I’m considering a new pair of wheels as the stock hubs are pretty ordinary.

All in all I’m happy with the ride and handling. The chubby tyres take the sting out of bad pavement and the steering firms up at about 20kph so once you are moving you don’t notice the small wheels. My daily commute takes about the same time as on a big wheeled bike and once I wear out the original cassette and chain ring I will address the big jumps at the top end of the gear range.