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.

A Mecs SASO suspension fork or Echo Team forks both have the disc brake tabs. The polished alloy Echo is lighter, super sturdy and is great for street and dirt.

For more info: http://www.myspace.com/xootrswift


.

Looking for cross levers. Found some from Paul components, but it is way expensive at $58 for one lever.

Rivendell has v-brake compatible cross levers for $37/pair:
http://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=15-159

And I suppose I should introduce myself as a new Xootr Swift owner! As of less than two weeks ago. I'm planning to convert to drop bars and bar-end shifters in the immediate future, then I'll probably get around to posting a full review and pictures after that.

A few questions for those of you who have converted to 451 wheels and the Tektro extra-long-reach double-pivot side-pulls: Has anyone tried fitting fenders? Has anyone tried fitting 20x1-3/8 (451x37) tires? If so, how has it worked out?
Thanks,
Jonathan

I have nothing of substance to offer the thread, but I took this picture tonight.

I use the freddy fenders that Xootr sell for the Swift. They fit fine with 451 wheels and tectro long-reach calipers. I've only used narrow (Stelvio 28mm) tyres mind you but it looks like there's loads of clearance for fatter tyres. If you think about it, the reason we need calipers with such a long reach (when running 451 wheels) is because there is so much room between the rim and the brake/fender holes, compared to pretty much any type of bike out there using caliper brakes. So there's plenty of room for bigger tyres. 451x37 is not that big really anyway. The freddy fenders themselves are a very wide radius cross-section so will definately take much fatter tyres.

I have a spare pair of those tektro calipers if anyone needs a pair.

Nice.

Are you still in love with your dimension trekking bars?

I am, but the sweep brings the grips so far back that I really need a longer stem.

Other than that... yeah, they're still great.

Thanks. I will give it a try.

Regarding brake levers for Joako, for some reason I've found that short pull levers actually work fine for me with the stock V-brakes. I put some drops on with Cane Creek road levers last week just to try it out, and it's a bit finnicky to set up but otherwise fine.

My point being, I bet you can get away with using bar-end levers, which are probably a good match for your bars. Here's an example, although you may be able to go cheaper elsewhere: http://www.velo-orange.com/siinbrle.html

Humpert Quick Adjustable Stem
 

Does anyone know of a place to buy the Humpert Quick Adjustable stem in the US? Looks very interesting as an Swift upgrade, but I can't seem to find a stateside distributor.

thanks,

hudog

I mentioned some posts back that I'd be riding the Seattle to Portland event and, well, I did just that this past weekend on my Swift. It was the longest ride I've done to date, with 98 miles on day one (6.5 hours of riding + 1.5 hours for stops) and 102 miles to the finish on day 2 (6.5 hours of riding + 2.5 hours for stops -- I decided to hit every stop on this day). I opted to carry all my gear rather than deal with the luggage van they provided and didn't find the extra weight or the paniers to be that big of a deal.

The Swift rode like a charm and nothing worse than 3 chain drops occurred over the 200 miles. These all occured when I'm on the extreme ends of the rear casette (I've got a dual drive) and probably are due to minor adjustment needs. Once realized I steered clear of those gears. I think I got real luck because I was #1313, which got a lot of comment on the route! The Scwalbe Duranos I'd put on a few weeks earlier had had 400 puncture free miles of training prior to the ride--I feared a flat in the worst way and brought several tubes, just in case. But no punctures, a smooth ride, including in a terrific thunder and hail storm on the morning of day two. These tires are far more comfortable than my old Primo Comets. And I didn't even bother to pump them back up on day 2. Great tires so far.

I easily managed 15mph and had long stretches of 18mph+ on flats and climbing during the two days. The only limiter was when I found myself alone on the course with a headwind. Once back with a group all was well. The biggest issue was somewhere to mount a water bottle, but that was solved with a cheap Murano clamp-on attached to the handlebar stem that worked a charm.

Other folders on the ride that I saw were all Bike Fridays - about 10 of them. And I got a lot of comments about my bike, only 2 derisive, all the others boiling down to "cool!" especially when I passed people.

I don't know if the Swift is the best bike for this ride nor in the end really care. It is a great ride and in the end the only thing I suffered was numbness "down there" due to needing a true fitting for my B-17, and a persisting clicking noise down by the bottom bracket when I pedalled at times. I might consider the paniers in front next time to distribute things a bit better.

It was amazing riding with thousands of others, enjoying the scenery and realizing I could do it several decades past my 20s. If you haven't gone on a long ride on your Swift, try it!

Cool!

Speaking as a fellow Dual Drive user, that clicking in your bottom bracket may actually have been the same slightly misadjusted Dual Drive that you think accounted for the dropped chain. When it's off a little, it feels like that.

I settled on these for the bottle cage mount:

http://www.lickbike.com/productpage....B='3242-00'

I tried several, and they're the best I've found. Because the stem is in line with force transmitted up through the wheel and fork, I still lose the occasional bottle on bad bumps, but at this point I attribute that to not having bothered to put any industrial velcro dots where they'll keep it from happening.

I just switched to my summer tires, which are Primo Comets. How do the Duranos compare in terms of speed and perceived resistance?

just ordered a xootr swift, should come in next week. planning to ride it stock for now but am wondering what would be a good wheel upgrade (specifically, for lighter weight)? does everyone here pretty much go the custom/self-built route for wheel upgrades?

I believe brakemeister, who is a folding bike dealer, had some at one time. Ah yes, here's the post from a couple years ago:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...rt#post5266223