I almost forgot I'd asked. Thanks Jur!

i am looking for a swift, reasonably priced used bike or frame....

Sqynt - I bought a Minoura water bottle adapter gadget. The $%#@& thing looks simple but it's a ***** to put together. I tried a while and then the bike shop mechanic tried a while too, and then i just returned it. I don't like the design. I had intended to mount it on the handlebar tube. Then I went to the bike shop next door and bought two handlebar mount water bottles. Seems to be a much neater solution.

The west coast Swift place was selling steel Swifts, last year anyway. Peter in Brooklyn where I bought mine promised to exchange my Swift for a steel one when they came out to compensate me for the problems I had when I bought mine, but last I heard they never came out, or if they did I never heard about it. I don't think I'd bother now anyway. I was always leery of aluminum, but my aluminum Swift works just fine.

Euro - That's just what I'm interested in right now, comparing the Swift with which I am familiar with the Moulton which I am coveting. Which model Moulton do you have? Have you had any problems with it, like breakage or difficulty finding parts?

I believe the Center for Appropriate Transport in Oregon still sells the steel swift.

Steel Swift
 

The steel Swift is listed in the CAT catalog. Jan VanderTuin designed the Swift with Peter Reich.
He has since set up shop in Eugene, Oregon. Go to http://catoregon.qwestoffice.net/hpmcatalog.htm
and click on the PDF down load. You will find the Swift listed there. My Swift should arrive soon and I will post some pictures.

Has anyone had Peter R. soup a Swift up for them? I am curious how light these can be built up.

I have a light version, built up myself. See it in my sig linky. It has changed a bit since then, I estimate it somewhere between 8.5-9kg. Need to take all the gadgets off to weight it again.

Thanks, I will check it out.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...n/P1000254.jpg

Thought I'd post this picture for no other reason than to bring the Swift thread back onto the front page!

I have just fitted a new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre to the front wheel (not shown in this old photo). Getting the final few inches of tyre over the rim was a job and a half! With the complex problem of removing the Swift's rear wheel, I'm building up my will power to tackle the job of fitting a new tyre to it! Happy riding.

Hi Paul - from a few miles east of you.

On the tyre over the rim problem. Have you tried washing up liquid? It really makes a tight tyre just slide over the rim. I even carry one of those small complimentary hotel shampoo bottles in my repair kit in case I have to ease a tight tyre over the rim when riding far from home. It only weighs a few grammes and makes a hell of a difference on a tight tyre.

These Park heavy duty tire levers help a lot with jobs like that. Not for road use, but in the shop...

http://www.danscomp.com/images/products/mid_811393.gif

Hi all,

I've been riding a MuP8 for just over a year now, almost bought a full size road bike a few months ago, but didn't...just to much fun & to many conveniences with riding a foldable 20" bike! - IMHO at least! :p

I've often reverted back to this thread too, during my periods of indecision on where to go from the Mu P8.

Well, after some thought, and again 'almost' going for another bike (SpeedProTT), I ordered the Swift! :love:

My plan was to order frame-only, then build it up, but since I found a dealer that actually sells them complete, for only $100 more than the frame only through Xootr, so I went that route.

The bike's on its way to Japan right now, but I've already started ordering upgrade parts. Plan is to upgrade pretty much everything on it, and be able to roll with full-sized road bikes with less effort than my P8. We'll see!
(I've been on a Mu P8 for a year, and and can keep up for short stretches on flats, 2-5kms, at 35km's avg. speed, no problems on hills...even less uphill : )

Upgrade parts enroute thus far:

- Schwable Kevlar Durano's
- FOLEX, A-Class paired spoke rims
- Aluminum stem-riser (stock for Airnimal Joey)
- MKS AR2 pedals & PowerStraps (Candy C's were out of stock!)
- SDG Saddle, Ti Fly C (will be moving over from Mu to the Swift)

Near Future Upgrades:

- Extended stem
- Bullhorns (update: ordered yesterday)
- Bar end shifters
- Double front chainrings (56/44 ? )
(Update: ordered FSA BCD130 Carbon compact set & will be changing the rings to 55/44)
- 11-26 9spd Cassette
(anyone caught on that I'm just copying the Hammerhead gearing? :p )

Hope you all are enjoying your Swifts, and if anyone's interested, I'll keep you all posted regarding the upgrades when possible. Plan is to keep it fairly light, and FAST!

Kind regards to all!
K.

Just read through a few pages of older info on this thread & realized there basically no mention of double derailing the front gears on a Swift..:eek:

~ plus a few mentions of chain drop-outs..making me think a front derailer could be push'n it..

Hope it wasn't too crazy an idea!
Guess we'll soon find out!
:twitchy:

The front derailleur is a relateuvely new deveulopment, so most of us have no expeurience with it:

http://xootr.com/front-derailleur-mount.html

I haven't had to deal with removing my rear wheel since installing the internal gear hub, but there have been some times I'd have swapped tires if the thought were less annoying.

I like my Marathon Plus tires for commuting in the winter, but I'm looking forward to putting the Primo Comets back on when Spring comes.

My new slick 20X1.5 Kojaks are much easier to put on and off than the 20X1.75 Marathions I had before, plus they are much much nicer to ride on.

Drop-out mod
 

For those of you with AL Swifts and have stayed with the derailleur set-up, there is a fairly easy mod you can do to help ease rear wheel removal. Since we don't need the adjustability for chain tension, all you have to do do is cut/grind off most of the bottom half of the rear drop out. You only need to leave as much material as the axle nut needs to clamp onto. Does not hurt the frame structurally and you lose a couple of grams of unused aluminum.

The only caveat is that you will not have paint on the areas that were removed. On a silver bike it's not really an issue. On the blue bike, if it bothers you, you can get some Duplicolor touch up paint. Since the frame is aluminum corrosion is not an issue. But truthfully, in that area I doubt anybody could actually see your handywork.

I have done this mod to my aluminum Swift and have had to fix couple of flats and it does make life easier.

Hmm, yea. I run double chain rings on both my Swifts but never even considered a front derailleur. I'm not much of a racer though. I run 39/52 and 13-28 in the back.

I'm not really a racer either, but I do ride with a group monthly. (on a MuP8)
99% are on full sized road bikes, but I like to keep up. :)

With space limitations & mix-mode transportation, I'm sticking to to a foldie/20".
~ Its just I'm hoping it will ride very close to a full-sized road bike too. :D

I just ordered my front derailer from Xootr last night, so once I get it all set up, maybe I'll be the first to add some front-derailer info for the Swift.

Assuming you are the only foldie rider, that makes the bunch 100 strong including you. Big bunch! :eek:

jur
who is a pedantic idiot at times and who is eagerly awaiting the front derailer info

Kaito, I don't think you'll be disappointed I've raced against full-sized bikes with no problem on my Xootr. For the best rolling, I would recommend 451 size wheels not 406. I talked a bit to the guys at Bike Friday who do 406 and 451-wheeled bikes and their verdict at the time was all their racers were using stelvios on 451 rims.

I use a capreo rear hub for 9-26 gearing and do use the top gear regularly, but then I also have a single front ring so need the range of the capreo. With a front mech you will have more options. It is well worth you working out what gear range you need and what gears you will ride in most so that you can acheive these gears in with a reasonably straight chainline, as it won't be so efficient with extremes of chain bending.

I've never had my chain fall off. I run a chainguard where the outer ring should be and my single ring where the middle ring should be. I don't know if the chainguard is helping keep the chain on or not, or if is the fact that the chain is minimum length and rear mech is keeping it tensioned.

I use my swift as my only road/training/commuting bike and love it. I have just fitted a Polar power meter which works great and was only £150 (I already had the HRM wrist unit).

On the last ride, there were two of us out of sixty on 20" wheels.
The other person was on a 'Bianchi', and he was having no problems staying with the lead bunch. Turns out, he's using a 60t outer ring! :eek:
I asked'm if he felt it a bit much to mash down on, but he said he's okay, and that it does help'm keep up easier. 60 seems a bit much in my opinion though..:innocent:

Again, not that I'm a 'racer', but it IS reassuring to know that this Swift I'm building up will be able to 'get up'n go' when called for. :D - thanks!

I was looking at capreo too, and even the mech. at my LBS reccomended it.
But once I told'm that there's a front derailer option, he reccomended that too.
We have ALOT of hills here, and I'm confident the inner ring will be getting alot of use. I was debating Capreo or Sram 3spd inner geared rear hub before deciding on the double front. But considering weight, ease of install, and again, them climbs!, I'm hoping the double front was the right choice.
(I'll soon find out!)

Here's a link to a shop here in Japan that specializes in Mini-Velo builds, and rims: http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/giro/index_minivelo.html

I commute 2~3x's a week with my MuP8, and plan to keep commuting with the Swift too. Just hope the Swift (and all them cables!) can keep up with the daily folding! Fingers crossed on chain alignment & smooth shifting as well! ;)

Oh, thanks also for the info on the 451's. I've already spent alot on my 406's, but I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Thanks for the helpful tips & reassurance guys!
And Jur, thanks for taking the time to post your beautifully built up Swift on your bike-photo-essay site! Your words and pics have been inspiring. :)

Oh - The bike/parts are all on there way right now, but I'm still having a hard time sourcing the FSA 55T Road (130bcd) outer ring. Its sold here in Japan, but the shops are out of stock! And I don't want to overspend (l already have! :lol: ) and get the 55T Triatholon ring..Anyone have a source in the US perhaps?

Rgds,
K.

Are there any drawbacks to using 451's? ~ spokes more likely to give, frequent checks, tuning needed, etc.. Are these more for 'racers', and not so much for frequent commute/group riding?

I'm only doing this Swift build once, & I want to make sure I get it right..!;)
I've already got a set of 406's headed my way, but if 451's have noticeable benefits, and can hold up to commutes(on smooth roads), I'd rather go the 451 route.

Any info or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks all,
K.