Metallic, liquid, clearcoat.

Thanks! I was hoping for metallic silver infact. I am going to convert this into a fixed gear bike. I need to decide if I am going to replace the rear hub or build both wheels. It depends on how good the stock rims are. Do the stock rims have welded joint? Or, is it pinned/sleeved? Is the rim double walled? For those of you who have put on some major miles, have you had any sidewall-wearing-too-soon issues?

I think the stock rims are pretty good. I've had a (blue) Xootr Swift since December 2005 and have over 1000 commuting/shopping miles on them without a problem. If you're going to be going fixed I'd think they'd be less an issue of sidewalls wearing too soon. That's definitely true of the rear wheel if you decide not to use a rear break.
As for the conversion, have you thought about the Surly Fixer, described in this pdf download from Surly? You wouldn't get a dishless rear wheel, but the 20" wheels are really strong as is. Also, I'm not sure if it would work with the Quando rear hub on the Xootr Swift, but if it would it would be an easy way to go without too much time (cutting out the orignial spokes and building a new wheel) or money (new hub and spokes).
Jonathan

Stock rims are ok. Welded. 1800 miles so far, and no signs of excessive wear.

Cheng Shin tyres
 

Wav interesting to see how poorly the very high pressure tyres went, and also that the Kevla tyres were slower.
I had two pairs of tyres thrown in in one of my recent purchases, turns out they are Cheng Shin tyres so I will be able to try them out. They were the cheap well performing tyres from Taiwan, looks like I will be saving on more exotic tyres! :)

Kevlar is slower while riding.... but faster if you don't have to spend 15 minutes fixing a flat. :D


If anyone's interested, it seems there's a simple way to get a rack onto the Swift using these clamps. I'll let y'all know how it works out....

Has anyone tried 451 rims on a swift? I am guessing they will fit, although may have to get caliper brakes.

big apples on Swifts?
 

So do Big Apples fit on the aluminum Swifts?

Cheers,
Ari

Sure do. I was the first to fit them though I was told they wouldn't work. I didn't go with the super fat Apples though. They work like a charm!

Well I just ordered one for my father so he can take w/ him whenever he and my mom travel. I liked the Dahons but like the fact that most parts on the Swift are off the shelf. Depending on how his looks, I might get one for myself but I am 6'05" 225 and curious if it would fit.

I think you'll be able to fit. Just make sure you have the long seat post and the taller bar riser. You can easily get the seat super high IF you combine the telescoping Dahon seatpost WITH a 27.2mm internal seat post. I use the 27.2mm Thudbuster and you could probably be 7 feet tall and ride my bike.

aroundoz: it looks like you'll be at the top end of the "XL" size. The frame is very solid and rigid, although I don't know the maximum weight.

I believe the Swift will fit you about as well as any other non-customized folding bike. So if it really doesn't work out, you may want to consider a Bike Friday.

Do you have the 2.0" version? I'd be grateful if you could specify the width. Thanks.

I have the 50mm ones (2.0"). I also have fenders too.

Thanks for replying. Can you tell me if the distance from the BB to top of saddle is 82cm, could you get the bars close to being level w/ the saddle?

If you saw my rant about my new office location, you'll know that my new office location doesn't have any place to lock up a bike. I just emailed Peter asking about the availability of the new steel Swifts. Time for me to start spec'ing out my bike. Anyone have info on the SRAM/Sachs internal gear hubs? The ones w/o the clickboxes. I can't find any reference to them on SRAMs website. Specifically, are they better, worse, the same as the Nexus Premium internal hubs. Thanks.

I personally am not too fond of the clickboxes. I had one on my Dahons that had the SRAM Dual Drive setup. On a folder there is no way I'd use one. On a normal bike where there is less risk of breaking that sucker off I'd consider it. The Nexus premium hub is excellent. One big plus to the hub is that you downshift very easily under load. Something the SRAM and Sturmey Archer hubs don't do well. If you want you can also get a trigger shifter for it if you so desire.

I currently have my bike apart. I'll try and answer this in a day or two when I get it back together if you can wait that long. I have my seat pretty high and it isn't difficult to get the bars level with the seat.

Anyone know of FD clamp for the Swift (steel version), or is a FD a braze-on deal?

What's the outside diameter of the seat tube?

40 mm

Yikes!! same as the Aluminum Swift... for lack of finding a 40mm clamp-on, I'd probably get a readily available 35mm(1 3/8") clamp-on and hog it out a little ..

Bruce

Well, perhaps one of the aftermarket front derailer clamps for another folding bike would work. I know that there is a clamp for the Brompton and Birdy. The Birdy has an oversized seat tube so it might be your best bet. I don't know the precise measurements; but I am sure that someone here could help.

Just in case you are looking for that Birdy front derailer, here is a reference page

http://onohiroki.cycling.jp/bike-bd-1.html.en.iso8859-1

invisiblehand, thanks for the link. The FD clamp on that Birdy was custom made by Kataoka-san, whom I will email if I can find the current URL. At present, I plan to use a large hose clamp on a hacked 34.6 mm clamp, and when the position is optimized, a braze-on.