The fork is sold here in Japan through the Yahoo Auctions. (There's no Ebay here)
The seller sells via YahooAuctions & the fork is shipped out from Taiwan.

The link to the auction for the fork is: http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b97048756
(sorry, but I'm not even a member of the YahooAuctions, so had to ask a friend who is to help me out)
Also, we negotiated the price to 24,000yen, so a slight discount..

The Trigon manufacturer site is: http://www.greatgocycles.com.tw/cgi-...profile_lst.pl
And it does look their contact info/link is working.

Hope this helps,
K.

How long is the head tube on the Carbon Forks (Trigon) ? LOOKS RAD!
I am modding my Raleigh "folding twenty" What wheel size is that fork designed for?

According to the seller's ad, the tube is 39cm's & its designed for 451 wheels.
I'm thinking it should work with 406's too, but with longish reach calipers.

Rgds,
K.

hey Kaito,
Sorry to bother you again but which model number is that fork?
Wondering if it comes in 1" couldn't find your fork their web site.
Was it special ordered?

PS I was just in Tokyo and wished I had my folder along..
great bike culture going on there!
best
jt

Hey~ no bother. Glad to help w/what I can.
Hmm..model humber..There isn't one listed on the YahooAuction's seller's description either..
closest thing I can see by the description is: 45１用　”For 451"
I looked on my fork & nothing but the Trigon logo there too.
If you inquired to the manufacturer, I'm sure they won't mistake which fork you're reffering to since they only have one 451-mini velo fork. (though it would be easier w/a model#)

Good luck! & it would be cool to see your Twenty w/the forks if you can get'm.
Rgds,
K.

First sighting of another Swift
 

Does anyone on this forum ride a blue Xootr and was riding it 10 mins ago down Leman St in London?

This is the first time I've ever seen another Swift on the road, such that it took me a while to register what I was seeing - for a few seconds my brain knew it was something very familiar but couldn't identify it because it was out of context - i.e. moving. Weird.

Custom Swift for sale!
 

Not sure if this is the right place to do this, but....I'm sad to say I have to sell my beautiful green Swift.

A custom Swift folder, hand-built by Peter Reich, upgraded and customized in every way. Most recent spec'ed aluminum frame, custom painted in British racing green with lemon-yellow decals. Flat bars, Fizik Vitesse ti-rail saddle, Shimano Deore levers, shifters and V-brakes. Crankset and bottom bracket are Shimano 105/Ultegra. Rear derailleur is also 105. Chain is Ultegra. Wheelset: Shimano 105 hubs laced to Sun CR18 rims, also hand-built by Peter. Almost new Schwalbe Marathon tires. Comes with a red bell-pepper bell. Geddit? (If it offends, I can remove it.) This bike is pounds lighter and faster than the stock model. There are some minor scuffs and flakes in the paint and dust but otherwise it is in great condition and cared for. I've put less than 300 miles on it. The bike cost almost $1200, selling for $700 or best offer due to financial emergency. PM with questions or for high-rez photos.

Bike's located in Brooklyn, NY. Pick up greatly preferred.

Thanks,
Alex

Sorry to hear about your woes. Hope it works out.

There is also a sticky For Trade thread here where you could duplicate this post.

Just found this on another portion of the folding forums, posted by EvilV. Had to share. Surprised it doesn't fold...

###############

Just watch this for two minutes. Your view of the bicycle will never be the same again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

##########################################

Amazed,

Bob G.

Hello,

I want to convert my stock Xootr Swift into a fixed bike. I am currently looking to purchase a Surly New fixed hub. My bike has 135mm dropouts and I am about to replace the crankset with a Shimano Ultegra 6500 and bottom bracket with a 109mm BB-5500. From what I read, the Surly 135 has a chainline of 52mm and the Ultegra's 6500 outer ring will give me a chainline of ~46mm. Will the Surly 130 give me a better chainline by adding washers or will the Surly 135 be a better option? Thanks in advance.

It looks like you'd need a much wider bottom bracket if you went with the 135mm Surly. If you have a wide pelvis that might be worth it, but with the 109mm BB-550 I'd say go shorter hub and washers.

You could also ask this question over in the Fixed Gear/SS forum

Thanks andmalc. I decided to sell the ultegra crankset and bottom bracket. Now I am deciding between a square taper bottom bracket or a hollowtech II or giga x pipe crankset due to the flexibility in bottom bracket lenghts. My other question is, are the hollowtech II and giga x pipe bottom bracket chainline adjustable by installing and removing washers/spacers from the bottom bracket? Thanks in advance.

It depends on the specific crankset. Some two-piece cranksets are designed to be installed without washers, while others use two or more. Truvativ/SRAM publishes the chainline dimensions of the cranksets they sell in the "tech docs" section of their website. You may be well rewarded by searching Shimano's tech docs for information as well.

As long as the manufacturer recommends a configuration that allows you to run the cranks directly next to the bearings without a washer, and the resulting BB width wind up the same, I don't see any reason why you can't shuffle those washers around to adjust your chainline to your heart's content. Subtracting washers is a definite no-no. Adding washers will reduce the amount of left crank to axle engagement, and you do so at your own risk. You'll probably want to measure to make sure the crankset you buy will have enough chainstay clearance though.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...n/DSCN4102.jpg

I've been out of action for a couple of weeks following a throat operation. The weather has been so good, I couldn't resist a ride in the English countryside under clear blue skies and hot sunshine. Spent a leisurely three hours or so cycling about 25 miles along quiet country lanes. Some of the small hills had me struggling but it was a great afternoon. I was shocked at how unfit I had become after just two weeks off the bike. However, the day after the operation I could hardly walk - it must have been a reaction to the anasthetic. It was nearly a week before all my aches and pains had subsided. Great to be back aboard the Swift!

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:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2475/...bcd2ba2e_o.jpg

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.

nice bike,love bull horns on folders, can I see a picture of it folded?

It's been quiet for a few days, so thought I'd post and help bring the thread back to the top of the stack!

I'm planning to ride this year's STP (Seattle to Portland) 204 mile ride, my first, on my '06 Swift. I'm doing it over 2 days--no way I could do it in one. I've been training seriously for the past 3 months and have been doing 50-80 mile rides twice a weekend for some time, gradually building up my endurance. No fancy setup like many of you, the major upgrades are a B-17 saddle and a Sram dual drive (just too hilly here for 8 gears).

The Swift has been riding very nice, the only complaint so far is the stock handle bars which feel a bit low and narrow on those longer rides, even with bar ends attached. I'm considering other options and love the look of bullhorns but probably won't change this close to the ride. Other than a stretched chain and worn-out Primos, victims of riding 1000+ miles in the past 6 months, the bike's been handling great. I'm able to comfortably manage a 15mph average over the course of a long ride which is my target speed. Probably not too fast for most, but it'll mean two pleasant 8-9 hour days of riding. I'd been relying on my Carradice Nelson to carry gear, but have reattached the rack and paniers with the thought of adding capacity for supplies and a change of clothes.

Anyone else planning to ride STP and, more importantly, on a Swift?

No plans to ride STP, being in the UK, but I'm a high mileage swift rider with some tips to share....

I would recommend trying drop bars for long mileage riding. I've been using flat bars and bull-bars for years and have struggled with back pain. I found bull bars great for most riding but the problem is that they don't give enough variety of riding position. I finally gave drop-bars a go a few weeks ago and my back has been much happier. You get 3 main positions (tops, drops and hoods) that are significantly different to each other for your back to notice.

My reluctance to use drops was more about the look of the bike. It always seemed daft to have a huge stem riser to create a high point for the stem to attach to, only to fit bars designed so you can have your hands lower than the stem. With bull bars I had a much shorter stem riser and there was a more direct line between the headset and my hands. I've got over this now and very happy with my drop bars.

My next tip is to experiment with tyres if you haven't already. Some tyres will roll a lot better than others and for that sort of distance this is going to be more noticable than for short trips. I've been down my local track (where I race in a track league) doing laps of constant speed on different tyre/wheel/pressure combinations, using my Swift's power meter to measure how much power is needed to maintain the same speed. This takes into account not just the rolling resistance, but how well the tyres roll over the imperfections in the road, and any effect of weight differences in the tyres (the 500m track is not quite flat). I did this test because the Stelvio's I've been riding for years have been discontinued and at the same time my rims have cracked so I have the opportunity to change wheel size as well as tyre. So far I've tested 3 setups with the following results, all at 30km/h:
451/Durano @ 100psi - 221w
406/Kojak @ 100psi - 212w
406/Kojak @ 80psi - 207w
. In other words 406 kojaks @ 80psi need 6.7% less power to maintain 30km/h as 451 Duranos.

I have a pair of 406 Greenspeed scorchers being despatched today that I should be able to test on Wednesday. I can't afford to buy any more tyres for testing but if anyone in the UK wants to lend me a pair I will happily test them (I'd like to test some Comets).

On the tests I've seen that test rolling resistance on a drum, higher pressure tyres always come out with lower rolling resistance than lower pressures, so the fact that Kojaks are faster on my local at 80psi than 100psi is interesting, which to me is proving that the bump-smoothing effect adds to speed (anyone in the UK like to lend me a pantour-hub wheelset to test?). My track is pretty smooth, and I suspect on bumpier roads the 451-size would do better. N.B. my track isn't flat - one one straight I was doing over 300w to maintain the speed and on the opposite straight I needed <100w.

Day to day, my 406 Kojaks I'm now using definately 'seem' faster to me than my 451 duranos did, but a quick scan through forums suggests that the scorchers could be faster still, and being higher volume I might be able get more benefit from the suspension effect at lower pressures.

My final tip for long distance riding is that half the challenge is about food not cycling. This is based on my experience from training for a 12-hour race. You need to experiment til you find food where you can get enough calories on the bike during the ride but so it doesn't slow you down. The lower intensity you are riding the less this matters, but if you are riding for hours at pretty much the max intensity you can, then you won't have much capacity for digesting. For me the magic formula was High5 4:1 with 'SIS Go' gels every 45mins. Having a drink with Protein in definately defeats the 'bonk' for me, and 4:1 was the only protein drink that didn't make me sick (I found Perpetuem horrible) and of all the gels I tried, 'Go' was the only one that didn't slow me down (it's also the only one I tried that is isotonic). It's all personal though - some of my friends doing the same race were happy eating nuts. You need to experiment - It took me 3 months to find the combination that worked for me.

Thanks for the great advice, rickybails!

I'd been also thinking about drop bars but wasn't sure whether that would help, being lower...I may give it a go, it can't be any worse than the stock setup. It sounds like I'd need a taller than stock stem from your description?

As to tires, I've been pretty happy with my Primos inflated to around 85psi. They give a decent ride on the rather bumpy trails and roads around here. But after this event is over I may also experiment in this area.

As to food, yes, that's critical. Small amounts on a regular basis is the key I've found. I've taken to stopping at least once an hour to eat a small amount of food and drink water (equally important). I've tested a variety of bars but they're pricey and sometimes too tough. I've carried pizza, grilled salmon, and string cheese and would carry them all the time except they're bulky. Currently it's a bag of Quaker Oat Squares and a bag of a mix of almonds/sesame sticks/raisins. These seem to work perfectly for me and on my 80 mile ride I found myself in good shape. The STP ride will have food stops which I'll also take advantage of. My goal is to absolutely avoid goo and other nasty tasting items!

I haven't taken my Swift on a long ride yet--it's my commuting bike--but I did my first 200K, 300K, and 400K brevets recently on my road bike.

+1 to food being key. I don't think it's possible to predict what you're going to need at mile 200 based on how you did on an 80-mile jaunt, so you might want to throw a few gels and powders in your bag just for emergencies, and maybe some electrolyte capsules.

I also think bike fit is just as important on a really long ride. Things that don't matter much in the first 50 miles can really hurt you in the second or third 50. I haven't ridden in three weeks because of the ITB problems I developed on my 400K, so this lesson is fresh in my mind.

(BTW, I have the Nelson too. Nice bag!)

noteon, the good news is that I'll be doing the ride in two 100 miles stages, which is what about 85% of the riders tend to do. So luckily my findings on the 80 mile ride pretty much confirm what I'll need to know. Food, water, ibuprofen, stretching--these are key. And enjoying the ride. To do the 200 miles in one day equals 16-18 hours, and that's more punishment than I need or want!

I shouldn't think so. I've gone back to a stock stem riser from having quite a short stem riser with bull bars. With the bull bars my hands were in the same position as my hands are now in the drops of my drop bars, so that I've gained a much higher position than with bull bars. If you have bull bars on a stock stem riser then with drop bars you are doing to gain a lower hand position than with your bull bars.

What, no celebratory flask?

hey has anyone commuted in rush hour with these? i've seen that they don't fold up to anything nearly as compact as a brompton but then the fold must be thinner too given the wheels don't fold over each other, so maybe it works out the same? i.e. thinner but taller rather than wider and lower.

has anyone commuted in london with a swift? i'd hate to get one and then be refused to board a train because my folder didn't fold enough...

thanks! appreciated.

I commute every day into london on my swift. I rode a brompton for 4 years (only just sold it), a Dahon speed pro TT for a year and had the Swift now for 2 years. Swift is definately my favourite. Fold is tall and thin, very practical for trains. I find it hooks nicely over the rails on my trains (Southern) so I don't even need to use a strap. In the doorways I hook the drop bars over the rail and in the bike/disabled area where the rail is lower I hook the pedal on the rail. Very convenient boarding a train - no faffing around whatsoever. It folds much faster than a Brompton (unfolds faster still - about 2 seconds if like me you have some tubing stuffed down the lower seattube to stop the seatpost at just the right height).

Also, it needs less space to fold/unfold than the Bromptons or Dahons which is really useful on a crowded train.

No worries about folded size - the guards just want to see it folded (although will rarely challenge those who don't) and plenty of people commute on the large-wheel folders (Cadenza, Jack, Rabbit.de etc.) and the swift is much smaller than them.

I'd recommend the Swift to anyone wanting a fast folding bike for commuting - I love it.

ricky, thanks for that, it's just what i wanted to hear!

Fitting a rack.
 

I know this has been discussed before, but I've just re-fitted a rack to my Swift so I thought I would post a picture to get the Swift forum back onto the front page!

The rack is a standard one that is designed for large wheeled bikes but it does have quite long, "bendy" arms which are ideal for anchoring it to the lower Q/R of the Swift. If you do fit a rack please ensure that you use the lower Q/R or use 'P' clips to the rear triangle otherwise the bike will not fold. The rack arms may also prevent the seat post dropping all the way down to secure the bike when folded.

Not the best photo in the world but I will post some more when I'm next out and about.

Front disk fork
 

Does anyone know of a front fork with disk tabs that will fit the Swift?

I want to build my winter commute bike out of a swift (stock) frame and I really want to have disk brakes for the front

Thanks

Finally got the chance to build my surly wheelset. Specs:

- Alex DA-16 32 hole rims with Surly 130mm rear and 100mm front
- Aluminum stem riser a la jur
- Ultegra 6600G crankset
- Vuelta 56T chainring (courtesy of Xootr Swift - Thanks!)
- Marathon Racer kevlar tires
- Easton EA50 stem with Origin8 bullhorn

Looking to replace the saddle and pedals soon. I want to reuse the Tektro brakes, but I can't bend the levers since they are aluminum and made for 25.4mm bars instead of 26mm. Can anyone recommend me a brake lever that will fit and work with the stock V brakes? Thanks in advance.

Here is a pic:

re: fit.

It is a BIG deal. I almost sold my Swift, when I had too long of a stem on my drop configuration. Thanks to SygInt, I didn't. I just bought a new stem, and poof--back to a super nice ride!.

re: brake levers

Just look for any "long-pull" levers. I use tektro LP brake levers, and they work great (Tektro RL520). However, you may want to consider LP TT levers on yours.

re: front fork

I think that XootrSwift reported success with the Meks/Saso suspension fork.