I figured I should finally post my contribution to the Swift mega-thread.

I've had my Swift for about a year now. My original intention was to buy it when in I was in the States as a travel bike, and sell it on when returning to the UK. What's happened instead is the Swift is now my main bike. Mostly due to the fact that SWMBO has long stated a policy that the road bike had to live out on the (covered) back terrace. The poor thing just didn't like it out there. Also, I'm a stay - at - home dad to a daughter of 18 months, so the bulk of my riding is now with a trailer behind and on the local MUP. That said, I still head out on the road solo when I get the chance. It's just not as often as it used to be. The long and short of it was the road bike was just sitting, neglected on the terrace, and I was usually on Captain Sludgebucket (my old Ridgeback Cyclone 26" wheel hack bike) pulling the trailer.

In the interest of eliminating unnecessary stuff and general economising, I've turned the Swift in to a multi purpose bike. It now takes on the roles of road machine and MUP riding trailer puller quite happily with a change of rear wheels.

With "road" wheels:


The road wheels are a set of Velocity Razors with Hope Mono hubs & Schwalbe Kojaks. 32 spokes per wheel, which is probably overkill, but they should stay nice and true despite the lousy roads around here.

Other modifications to date include:

Planet Bike fenders as supplied from Xootr.

No-name bullhorn bars w/ tektro v-compatible brake levers.

Deore long cage rear derailleur.

Xootr front derailleur mount / with Sora derailleur attached

Dura Ace bar end shifters (9 speed)

Crank Brothers mallet pedals

Charge spoon saddle & bar tape

Front chainset is 52/42

Rear cassette on the velocity wheel is the 11-28 that came with the bike. I'll probably change this to a 11-23 9 speed when I have some spare cash.

9 speed Dura Ace bar end shifters -- currently using them in friction mode with the 8 speed cassettes.

Kool stop dual compound brake pads.

When I'm using the bike to pull the trailer, I swap out the rear wheel with the original that has a 11-32 cassette and the Kenda tyre that came with the bike. Kojaks don't do all that well pulling a trailer up hills on wet, muddy tow paths.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3298/...6b8b3665_b.jpg


The only problem I have with this setup as it stands the velocity rims are narrower than the old wheels, so I'm having to re-adjust the brakes with each wheel swap. It adds about 5 minutes to the process, which is something I can live with.

All in all I'm very happy with this setup. The double setup & wide range cassette in the back gives me low enough gears for hills. And with the lighter wheels / tyres, it's a lovely bike for the road. The Swift is a very versatile bike! It also goes to show that wheels & tyres go a long way to affecting a bikes character.