For U.K. readers; if you can track down the May edition of "Cycling World" magazine you will find my Xootr Swift on the front cover with an article about the bike inside. It may add to the the number of "Swifters" over here!

Is it the wheel, or perhaps the frame hinge points? The latter would also have this effect when folded, but otherwise would be fine.

Can people fold their Alu swift and tell me if their seatpost is aligned with the rear wheel? Thanks.

Spotted a stylish gal riding a blue Xootr today at the Ferry Building in SF. Went by too quick to get a good look and see if it had any mods. She was dodging thru the crowd of pedestrians in what *I thought* was a pedestrian only area.

Must have been in a hurry to get to Slanted Door for lunch... or maybe she stole the bike. :eek:

I'm off the bike for a couple weeks while I get my knee checked out. Apparently I have a mild Baker's Cyst. And before anyone blames the bike, my leg was a bit sore before I got the new Swift.... however I am wondering if the Power Straps on my Swift contributed. I really tend to twist my legs to lock my feet in.

Not hijacking the thread, I'm just excited to see another Xootr in my neighborhood. :D

Ok, stupid question, perhaps. Being more of a newbie to all of this I can't picture how you attached this-- Could you post a picture? Looking at the photo at the above site it looks like the upper supports screw into braze-ons, which my Swift doesn't have. So how did you attach it?

Thanks

I attached the upper rack mounts to the lower seat tube quick release. It was very simple and I haven't had any problems. I'll try to post some photos in the future.

Spotted a stylish gal, chased her down to check out her bike.

You gotta love Bike Forums.

The bike or the gal? :D

Interesting, installed within the qr itself then. Nice. I look forward to seeing the pictures.

Yes, the stock QR worked. Here's a photo
http://www.pbase.com/li_cha/image/78909918
I put a rack on the front as well.
http://www.pbase.com/li_cha/image/78910482
It took some bending to get it to work and I had to make a new straddle cable for the front brake because the one that came with the brake was too short. It takes more force on the lever now but it's not too terrible.

Is there anyone out there still running Big Apples? Wavsdhr, you were at one point?

The reason I ask is - I'm very tempted to try them, since the roads are so poor around here. But according to Sheldon Brown's advice on tire sizing, the stock Swift rims are too narrow.

A general guideline is that the tire width should be between 1.45/2.0 x the inner rim width. Ie. Wt = 1.45*Wir to 2.0*Wir. Hence, Wir = Wt/1.45 to Wt/2.0

If it's too wide for the rim, there's an increase risk of sidewall wear, and a greater risk of loss of control in the event of a sudden flat.

For a 50 mm tire: Wir = 50/1.45 = from 25.0 mm to 34.5 mm

I measured the stock rim, and the outside faces of the rim are only 23 mm, meaning the inside face (as used in the calculation) is only 17 mm! That's not very wide at all.

Thoughts much appreciated!

I have Big Apples on my Velocity Aeroheats with 23mm outside dim. Works fine over a whole range of pressures. Too soft and you feel it squirm around corners, but you won't want to use 15psi anyway. ;)

Ok, thanks for the feedback. So - better handling at higher pressure. But if you've inflated them to the full pressure (80 psi?) then do you still get the comfort benefits?

Hello everyone...

I just bought this bike. It has phil wood hubs & bb & sugino 75 cranks. Probably going to go with a black brooks saddle and cinelli track drops on it but haven't decided yet...gotta wait till I see it in person.

I'll probably be talking with you guys a bunch more in the future. I made it through about half of the pages in this thread today out of excitement for the arrival. From what I have been reading the bike shouldn't be a problem for my height...pushing 6'5".

My other bikes are...'87 De Rosa road bike, 2001 Eddy Merckx track bike, and my daily commuter road to fixed conversion. I'm buying the swift for my sailboat and for airline travelling...plus extra style points.

Zepi....you are my hero. That bike is so effing hot. Sell me that crankset please, please, please. Oh and those wheels too.

We pumped them to over 60psi during our recent Tassie tour, also to handle the extra weight. I would call it one hell of a difference to narrows at the same pressure. But the beauty of those tyres is, due to the low rolling resistance (flexy sidewalls), high pressure isn't needed. eg 40psi is more than enough for me.

After riding my new swift, from HPM, for a couple days, I determined it's not going to work for me. I am a roadie/tourer and the cockpit is way too short. I am about 6'05". Getting the bars/seat high enough isn't an issue, it's the reach. The stem length is already maxed. It's a beautiful bike in a powdercoat black metalic.

I hope this isn't an inappropriate use of this forum but if anyone is interested, PM me. My ebay log on is paschmidt40 if you want to check my feedback. I will probably end up ebaying it in a few days. Perhaps I will also give it another try but I just don't see it working for me.

Excellent, I think this may be the answer to my needs. Just need to research bags for daily commute.
Thanks!

Taco:

My Swift looks exactly the same as yours....to the left.

Thanks James.

Now, is anyone interested in parting a steel swift frame? I can trade it for xootr alu frame (see pics in the beginning of this thread), or buy it alone. I am going to do some chopping and welding to fit 24 inch wheels. PM/email me.

You're welcome flea but keep in mind neither rack simply bolts on; you'll have to do some bending to make them work. I notice Ben's Cycle has both of them.

Ujuj, this very bike turned out to be a vintage POGLIAGHI with low serial number (from 1966). Sante Pogliaghi is one of the most sought after italian frame-builders of all times. I would go straight to hell, if I'd rip off the parts for you...
But I have a funny bike-project with an even bigger (72T) chainwheel on a 20" auto-mini folder... (look here)

steel-swift on ebay. crazy color! On the pictures it looks like there is some cable-guiding soldered to the frame. Is that on other swifts as well?

:D hahaha

If SHE had any mods, hmmm... went by too quick to tell.

FWIW I prefer my girls unmodified... no major body filler... tho' some nice paint and tastefully applied custom graphics and shiny bits are fine!

I'm sure the PC Police will write me a ticket for that. :rolleyes:

Back to bicycles...

hello from yet another swift-owner-to-be! i haven't actually ordered mine yet, as my communication with peter at swift folder has been kind of spotty -- maybe he's really busy? -- but i've definitely been spec'ing out parts. i'm going to make mine a fixie.

this is what i'm thinking about using:

50mm Big Apples
Velocity Deep V MTB rims
Harris Cyclery track hubs
Sugino cranks from here: http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking...PCRNKSS/CR8970 (does anyone know what model this is?)

my main question is, will my chainline be ok with the stock bottom bracket, or should i get my own?

The hubs are spec'ed with 42mm chainline, so no, the stock BB will not work. I think the Sugino RD crank takes a 68x103 BB to bring it to 42mm chainline. Are you planning on assembling the bike yourself?

After agonizing on what rack/bag combination to use, reading with interest posts from Paul, Yangmusa, nihonric I decided to try the Nitto but...it's out of stock now. Grrrr. I am so sick of backpack wearing for the past 3 months I decided to just pull the blackburn rack off my mountain bike and mounted it last night and put on a Navarro panier bag I have. Despite all the concerns about fit and hitting it with my feet it works great! Maybe my smaller shoe size (8 1/2 US) is the reason, but my heel clears the bag and caused no issue on the commute today. I plan to add the second bag and to use them for the next few days to assure no issue arises.

The only problems: 1) it looks ugly and 2) as currently set up it's tied into the upper QR so the fold does not work. With longer ties I could attach to the lower QR and get the fold working but for now it's a great, and cheap, alternative to the Nittos and Carradice options I was considering.

james_swift, thanks for the answer.

and what do you know, peter got back to me, and he has 103mm BB's in stock. sweeeet.

i think i'm going to have the guys who sell the rims assemble the wheels for me. i'd like to try my hand at wheelbuilding... but not just yet... the rest, I ought to be able to handle.

I've seen some discussion about putting multiple chainrings on the front of a Swift, but has anyone tried putting something like the BikeE rear wheel on their Swift? I'm not sure how well it worked having both an internal hub AND derailleur on the BikeE, but it seems like it would be a good way to get more gear ranges on the Swift.

I've been surprised with how well I can get by on a 11-34(32) cassette in the back and stop messing with a front derailleur. Doesn't answer your interest and won't fly for trying to climb and spin at 30mph, but a nice workaround for 90% of the time.