jwlunt

Hi Xootr Swifties. I have an urgent question for you. My replacement Swift arrived today (the previous one had the dreaded 8th gear frame chain rub). Although the chain does not rub on this one, I have spotted something else of concern. If I remove the seat post entirely and “fold” it I have significant lateral play on the pivot, ie the rear wheel and frame can easily move SIDEWAYS in relation to the front frame. My previous one was nice & smooth – no play at all. This new one has at least 2mm play left & right. The result is that sometimes the seat post won’t go down at all and the frame halves need to be aligned by eye. After comparing the two frames, its clear what the problem is: the new bike simply has larger holes on the rear frame for the pivot bolt to go through. Net: there is lots of play.

Now, when riding I don’t know if this will be a problem because the seat post anchors it all. However, the extra play surely must allow some flex through that you don’t really want and makes the job of the lower release lever much harder. Long term this could result in frame damage… maybe? So, can I ask other Swifties to take a look and see how much lateral movement you get from the rear frame when folded? My is as wobbly as jelly when in folded position – it literally clunks from side to side when jiggled. Maybe if everyone has this lateral movement I won’t be worried. As it is, I’m concerned I may have to return the bike for a third one.

Thanks

Jonathan

jur

Sounds worrying. Better email Xootr about it. Mine's got no play. IFAIK there is a fibre bush around the bolt which eliminates play but allows movement. That bush could be missing. Have you tried tightening the nut a bit? That compresses that bush.

jwlunt

I removed the bolt on both bikes to compare: there is no bush on either, just a flat steel washer on the nut side. I've tightened the bolt as far as it'll go but it makes no difference - presumably because there is no bush or compressing washer. I'll email Xootr.

deluxe

My rear triangle has almost no play......to no play at all, yet it rotates freely around the pivot......which has no fiber (nor any other type of) bushing in it.
i think you're right, the seatpost does almost all the alignment, and is the major aligner of the frame too, but it'd be nice to have no play at the pivot.

bendembroski

Zero play on my Xootr as well. I can't recall if it has a bush or not, but when I disassembled the frame to fit it in a suitcase getting the bolt in and out of the pivot was a tight, tight fit. I don't think I'd like to ride one of these with a loose pivot...

jwlunt

Well, there's worse... I think I may have a 'Friday Bike' (rather than Bike Friday!). My first ride to work yesterday was weird. As I progressed the head set had more & more play in it. I took it round to a friend who is a serious bike tech after work and we spent 2 hours trying to get the headset smooth & tight but couldn't. We think there's a manufacturing tolerance issue in the frame which is causing this. I'll discuss with Xootr today. So, I'm back on my old one which is perfect but for the 8th gear chain snag on the frame! Hey ho...

jur

Mine is like that too, I had great difficulty getting the bolt out. I found it was due to the bush/washer thing. When I put it back together, I wondered how tight the nut must be, and I found the fibre thing compresses and makes folding difficult if I tightened it too much. So that told me how tight it must be.

deluxe

I think you'll find that tightening the bolt does increase friction till you reach the point that it's hard to fold the bike......but this is caused by tightening metal seatstays against metal mainframe. Neither I, nor others who've disassembled the pivot have found a fiber bushing in there.

bendembroski

If it wasn't such a pain in a** to get the bolt out, I'd take a look right now. I do seem to remember seeing something like a rubber (fibre?) bush or O-ring surrounding the hole for the bolt.

But that was me packing the bike into a suitcase on the last day of my honeymoon. My mind was on other things...