NeoY2k

What is that "Ritchey seatpost" mod?

I think one of your clamps might be too loose. Clamp one of the two, see if you can rotate the saddle. Do the same with the other clamp. I have (had) no movement at all between the two halves of the frame. I think if you let the two halves move, they will fatigue the seatpost.

NeoY2k

These Lite pro look nice, but not to KCNC level. Now of course, there is a difference between 130$ and 25$...

NeoY2k

I put back another rear wheel in my swift, a wheel I took from the bike I rode when I was a child... So I now have a singlespeed swift. Fitting a new wheel confirmed that the frame was seriously bent: the bent is spread evenly across the bike, I noticed it even rotated the bottom bracket a bit... We're talking fractions of degrees but these add: the chainline is crappy, the brakes are really assymmetrical, the wheel is off-center and is a nightmare to align... and it behaves slightly strangely... Wouldn't take it to even moderately high speeds to check out if it develops wobble. Unsafe.

The strangest thing: even plagued like that, it still rides better than many bikes... Would still pick my beat up swift with children bike wheels and 15 years old tires (!!!) over my previous Dahon Vitesse and a number of other bikes. When the insurance will have paid me a new frame (I hope...) I will have it painted bright pink, cricket green or any other fugly color, fit used crappy leftovers components on it, and use it as my "you really don't want to steal my bike, do you?" grocery-shopping and pub-going bike (depending on how much I intend to drink, of course), tooted peacefully at 10 mph (ok, 15...).

But I nevertheless could try the Swift as singlespeed xD !
It goes together well with the way the swift behaves, giving even slightly faster accelerations, and better efficiency, over the Nuvinci N360 hub. You can really feel the drag difference. But it is not as bad as one could think and at moderate speed, the wind drag overcomes the hub drag by a significant margin... So yes, the Nuvinci drags, you can feel it, but it doesn't seems that problematic.

On the other hand, I went back on a bike with sit-up-and-beg position and a 3-speed Shimano hub. Hard reality check. The Shimano lags before it settles, will only shift if you release the pedals for a good amount of time, and the abrupt difference in pace when you shift is really hard on your knees (yep this was a public bike with the low end 3-speeds, I'm not comparing it to a Nexus 8 Red, of course). I had the foot fly off the pedal, and got hit by it in return... If the Nuvinci doesn't allows that smooth of a shifting, that it fails to really be continuous, it still is quite good and very kind on the knees. I said I didn't knew if I would keep if I had to redo the bike... Well, I have to redo the bike and will probably keep it. It has something special that you don't really feel when trying the hub, but that you really miss when leaving it!

Also, all in all, it doesn't drags all that bad. It drags like any shifting system. But for my knees sake, I'm gonna keep it. (well, get a new one, actually >_<).

idc

Nice! My maiden ride was about 40mi and I loved every minute of it.

My main ride (20lb compact road bike) is in the shop for a few weeks unexpectedly and I'm riding possibly two centuries this weekend. Talk about being thrown in the deep end! It'll be a good chance to see how well the Swift does.

NeoY2k

I think it'll perform well but it will also greatly depends on the handlebars you put on it.

I just bought a "temporary replacement" bike while waiting for the insurance, a brand new "old" 2000 Marin Bolinas ridge (hardtail, rigid fork) that spent the last 12 years sleeping in a garage (there was a counter on it... it read 560 km). Marin was known for their chromoly frames... and I can comfirm that it is a damn good bike (especially for 90$ xD). Oversized double butted chromoly tubing??? Not as light as their higher end bikes made out of Tange, in fact it is a bit heavy, but sounds sturdy as hell. Cheap but usable components (Sram ESP 5.0, Ritchey headset...). What is excellent is their frame: precision work, eyelets for a lot of things, very, very well made and a superbly comfortable ride. A geometry of their own, very reminiscent of the Sunn geometry (french manufacturer who introduced the sloped top tube... remember those chromed chromoly bikes?).

Wanna know the joke?
The swift is more stable despite being a 20" and a folder! It is more precise at low speed, less nervous at higher speed. And you really come to love the fast acceleration of the swift! Otoh, the swift is very precise over cobblestones, but will shake every of your bones, while the marin is smooooooooth.

Dynocoaster 

there is a steel swift for sale on ebay.

idc

Just drop bars. My whole config is basically a road bike with a bit more weight and sturdiness.

wellslake

I'm selling my Xootr swift. Here's the ad: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/bik/3025378452.html

It's a great bike, but I need the money for other things.

GlowBoy

Finally made my decision. Not only am I going with Sturmey drum brakes, but I decided to go for the front dynamo hub too. I'm going to do some DIY LED experiments with the dynamo before dropping bigger money on a commercial dynamo light.

In back, I'm going with the new Sturmey drum-brake cassette hub, so I can stick with the versatility and range of a derailer system. I'm also upgrading to STI (8-speed ... compared to any other alternatives, the Shimano ST-R500 is a relative bargain at $130 for the right lever), which will make the bike more enjoyable to ride too.

All this is costing me some money, but is really going to make for a great commuter bike when it's done.

GlowBoy

Finally made my decision. Not only am I going with Sturmey drum brakes, but I decided to go for the dynamo version of the front hub. I'm going to do some DIY LED experiments with the dynamo before dropping bigger money on a commercial dynamo light. Should be a fun project.

In back, I'm going with the new Sturmey drum-brake cassette hub, so I can stick with the versatility and range of a derailer system. I'm also upgrading to STI (sticking with trusty and cheap 8-speed ... and compared to any other alternatives, the Shimano ST-R500 is a relative bargain at $130 for the right lever), which will make the bike more enjoyable to ride too.

All this is costing me some money, but is really going to make for a great commuter bike when it's done.

guitarplayerone

OKay, I'm going to confess that I've been lurking on the swift folder thread for the better part of a month now.

I plan on building up a Swift soon with 451's, 1 3/8 tires and Shimano 10-speed STI levers

I want to use the original v-brake bosses for the braking (eg, I am aware that long-reach calipers are an option)

Questions:

a) Can I use traditional center-pull canti's (where I can adjust for proper mechanical advantage) with the V-brake bosses? If the response is 'yes, but you need to use v-brake extenders', does anyone know of centerpull canti's with long enough reach that I can just buy in the first place?
b) Can I use TRP CX9 or another type of 'mini-v' brake with the 1 3/8 tire? I do not plan on riding this bike at all in the rain or snow, so studded tires and/or fender mounts are a non-issue
c) Could I use standard V-brakes with travel agents? (Does the xootr come stock with 'normal', or 'mini-v' type brakes, as I have seen folks needing to get v-brake extenders? If the xootr comes with normal v-brakes, is anyone aware of a V-brake which already is built with longer 'reach'?)
d) What is the target reach that I would need anyway

idc

Well, happy to say it handled everything well. I've put 200+ mi on it in the last 5 days (including a 50 and a 100 mile ride, with 4000ft+ climbing in each of those)

Only issues I had were

- chain jumped off the chainring twice over bumps (while I was on a smaller cog) - I guess this is a trade-off from having the range of a Capreo cassette - the chain has to be long enough to handle 50/26 down to 50/9.
- some ratting which I think I now fixed - I didn't have the riser onto the fork tight enough.

I ended up moving the seat forward on the seatpost to get the right reach. I'm still not sure if it's the ideal position from saddle-to-BB for me but it's fine for commuting right now, which is mostly what I'm doing.

GlowBoy

Not sure about mini-Vs, but with regular V brakes in your standard brake bosses you won't be able to adjust the pads anywhere near high enough.

However, there IS a way to do this, and since you're switching to STI road levers it should work great. A few years ago I undertook a very similar project, to convert a bike to use larger wheels than it was designed for but using the original brake bosses. In my case I was converting an old early 90s mountain bike to use 700c wheels, which are (622mm-559mm) = 31.5mm larger in radius. In your case the wheels you want to use are (451mm-406mm)/2 = 22.5mm larger than what your frame was designed for.

Paul Components makes a linear pull brake called the MotoBMX that has round arms which allow you to set the pads to ANY point on their length. Normally on a V-brake, the pads sit somewhere near the middle of the arms. By mounting the pads to line up with your 451 wheels, you will change the leverage required to operate the brake. Because they're further from the pivot, the pads will now move further per mm of brake cable travel, and it will require more effort to get the same braking force at the pads. So you will want to switch from high-pull/low-mechanical-advantage V-brake levers to low-pull/high-mechanical-advantage road/cantilever brake levers.

Fortunately that's exactly what your STI levers will provide -- less cable pull with more mechanical advantage. I'm using STI levers with this setup on my 26-to-700c converted rig, and it works GREAT! For clarity, I'm only doing this on my rear wheel, and I have an Avid Road Disc brake on the front.

Downside of the MotoBMX is it's quite expensive. I think I paid something like $120, and it looks like they're $140 now. However, they are ridicu-light at 140g each. I also find them much easier to set up and adjust than conventional V-brakes, because you can adjust the toe-in separately.

BruceMetras

Then there are always V-Brake Extenders.. Thor sells his at $33.00 in the USA.. that will let you run 451's on a Swift with OE V-brake arms.

guitarplayerone

That's a really good suggestion! I was looking at these brakes, and it somehow clicked that using v-brake extenders would alter the cable pull but I hadn't sat down and figured out that it would turn the brakes into long-pull.

I wish this forum had a 'thank post' feature

Leonardo

Hi there, it's a long time I'm lurking but now I have to ask your advice. I'm in Italy, maybe the owner of the sole Xootr Swift in my country and in love with it. I've understimated a slighly bent derailleur hanger and broken the rear mech. Now I have to get a new derailleur hanger and change my gears.

First question then. On Xootr website the shipping costs of the hanger to Italy are around 70$! Do you know if there is another source? Is it someway a standard hanger? The European dealers don't seem to have it.

Second question. I had the standard sram sx4 derailleur with a 11-32 8speed cassette. Not bad, but it could be a good chance to improve my bike. I'd like a wider range in low and a bit also in high gears. What would be a sensible upgrade in your experience? Sram Dualdrive (8speed or the older 7 one) ? I'd like also something a bit crispier than the old derailleur: I've recently swapped from the winter setup with bigapple to kojak and I'm delighted of how lively it does feel. The bike is used mainly for urban commuting in a quite hilly town.

Dynocoaster 

The part is only $8.95 I cant imagine shipping is that high. The front derailleur mount is $55 could they have quoted you that?

Leonardo

I guess that they have some kind of fixed shipping cost for abroad (UPS to Italy: 69.xy $). I'm writing to Xootr to understand if it's just a bug of their website but I'd really like to know if there are other sources for that piece! As far as I know this bicycle tries to have as much standard components as it is possible.

Dynocoaster 

Do you have a photo of the part? Their site doesnt have a photo.

Leonardo

I didn't remove it yet (sorry for the bad picture quality!)

Dynocoaster 

I found this see if any match
https://www.jensonusa.com/Derailleur-Hangers

Dynocoaster 

Evans cycle in the UK
https://www.evanscycles.com/categorie...illeur-hangers

jur

Good effort, but the Swift hanger is unique so it would only be a coincidence if any did match. I think the best way out for the postage conundrum, is for someone in the US to buy a hanger for Leonardo, and send it to you using plain air mail.

Leonardo

Thanks to Dynocoaster fot the kind help and thanks to Jur for the clarification. It's really a shame that a piece of this kind is not standard. I'll try to straighten it by hand, then we'll see.
Regarding the gears, I'm thinking of taking a DualDrive. What about the old 7 speed? Is the 8 sp far better? I see that the original hub is 132.5 mm - no problems I guess. Or as an alternative, is there something else very well suited to the Swift in your experience?

buzz609

I can confirm the shipping costs are very high! They only ship USPS air freight. I ordered the Front mech adapter and it was $80 postage!. As it's a specific part, i took the hit...(Also be aware of the VAT that will be added!!)

As for the hanger..if you know anybody locally who can CNC mill parts, they could make one and it would still cost less....

If the mech hanger is just bent, it can be carefully bent back into line...i did the same using my trusty adjustable spanner. I'd seriously give that a try first...just be carefull ans slow (and don't use the mech to lever it)