Hi Jur. Thank you very much. This one is my best looking bike.

The tolerance was tighter as you indicated and we did not have problems fitting the crown ring and cups using a press.

The cable to the RD clears the gears. No problem.

The only problem we have is that on the 39t chain ring, the chain hits the FD when shifted from 4th gear to 1st gear (biggest). Do you have this problem?

I suspected the chain line but when we checked, it correct. What length bottom bracket did you use? did you still use the 116mm bottom bracket as used in the 8 speed xootr?

From your description the braze on bracket is too far out-board, right? I have to admit, I forgot to specify the chainline issue. I have a 109.5mm road bottom bracket. Maybe a triple BB would work better?

Could the derailer go more inboard for the lower gears? Like a trim function on the shifter. For smallwheelers, due to the geometry issue, chain rub is much harder to eliminate.

my mechanic said it was a geometry issue as well, jur. it is not really much of a problem because i hardly use those gears anyway. :-)

i will try to use a triple bottom bracket (118mm) and see if it improves.

thanks again jur. i love this bike. it looks mighty good. :-)

Mine arrived today. Probably won't have time to build it up until the weekend.
Here is a picture of my Ti Swift frame, forks and other parts...
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps8so24e40.jpg
Here is a look at how it folds...
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psg7ksyuhy.jpg

have fun with the build. cheers :-)

marxmini -
Your bike looks great!

What size ball bearings did you use in the headset? Did you use sealed cartridge bearings, caged bearings on loose balls? I hope to get the fork on tomorrow evening, but I am not sure what bearings to use. In the dark ages we normally used 5/32" loose or caged balls in headsets, but there are more choices now... In any case, I did a quick search and couldn't find my small box of bearings, so I'm off to my local bike shop in the morning...

Pine Cone: The headset in the plastic bag in your photo has the cartridge bearing included.

as jur said, the cartridge bearing is part of the headset that was shipped.

OK, I'm an idiot... I put the cups in the frame, put it somewhere else and then was looking at the top and bottom races. Never looked back to the cups in the frame to see the bearings...

I hope to have a preliminary build by sometime this evening, should get it finished tomorrow or the next day. I'm impressed by the quaility of everything. Headset cups and fork race were a snug fit but an easy install. There was a small burr inside the seat tube, but I sanded it out yesterday using some sandpaper on a wooden dowel. Wheels are built and tires are on, just need to install the cassette and disc brake rotors which I will do this morning, then off to work. This evening I will install the fork, crankset, brakes, bars, shifters, etc.

you are just excited :-)

rode my bike 50kms. comfortable and solid. no creaks. just need to fine tune the drivetrain. :-)

Glad yours is working well. I'm sure mine will once I get done


My build continues to go slowly. Buggered the torx head on one of my disc rotor bolts this morning, fixed it tonight. Got the cranks and rear brake on, but managed to lose one small adjustment brake mounting washer on my garage floor. Didn't find it in a quick search... the sawdust on the floor from the last woodworking project didn't help any. Note to self... sweep floor clean before starting new bike build!

I'm calling it quits for tonight, and am pretty busy tomorrow, so I probably won't get it built and rideable until Sunday. It is supposed to rain all Saturday, so it would be a wet ride if it was finished then. Still need to mount the fork, front brake, derailleurs, bars, brake and shift levers. I'll probably do the first few test rides before I wrap the handlebars.

It's going to be an awesome folder!

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psxw6cdsva.jpg

Here is what it looks at right now.

Still need to cut the fork steerer down to lower the handlebars, then put on derailleurs, shifters, brake levers, add cables, wrap the bars, add a chain and adjust. Quite light given the hefty wheels and 406 tires, Schwalbe Marathon and Marathon Plus 47mm and 40 mm.

Looking forward to riding it tomorrow afternoon if the weather isn't too wet.

it looks good already and sure once it is done, it will look great. congratulations! cheers!

Is that a compact crankset? I'm worried the front derailer won't reach. A compact will give rather low gearing, with the small wheels a bigger one may be more appropriate...

It is a standard 53/39, but no, it doesn't quite fit... Do you know a source for larger chain rings that will fit a Shimano 105 5-bolt pattern 5700 series crankset? I wouldn't mind a 58 or 60 tooth, but I like the weight and quality of the Shimano 105's and Ultegra's.


Started today's build session by cutting the steerer tube on the fork down about 4 inches. After acquiring a range of potential cutting tools at my local Home Depot I ended up using a $15.85 tubing cutter (designed for cutting thin-walled metal conduit for electrical wiring). It worked great. Clean cut, perpendicular to the steerer, and almost no sharp edges to clean up. Well worth the expense.

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psgxjwxhrj.jpg


Today's big dissapointment was that the front derailleur bracket on the frame is about 3-5mm too high in its lowest position so I have a potential issue with the Shimano Ultegra 6700 series derailler I planned to use. The bracket also seems to make the derailler sit at the wrong angle, with the rear of the derailler lower to the chainring vs. the front of the derailleur. I will see if a low-bracket SRAM clamp-on will work...

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4jh5um4b.jpg
I planned to use a bottom-pull front derailleur and to do that I need a pulley which I don't have. The frame has the weld-on fitting for the pulley, but I didn't have one lying around in spare parts, so I have to acquire it before I can complete the build.
Brakes set up OK, the Tektro levers I chose don't have as long a pull as regular road levers, but they seem to be able to stop the bike. I chose Avid BB7 mechanical road disc brakes since I have had good luck with the standard BB7s on a couple of other bikes. Hydraulics seem to work better, but I hope to use this folder in far away places so I wanted brakes that I could find housing and cables for where ever I was.
Here is a look at what the build looks like at the end of today. Once I get the front derailler issues sorted out it will be rideable in about 20 minutes. Not totally sure of my shift lever positions, so I won't tape the bars until I am satisfied with how they are placed on the bars.

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...pshqakghmq.jpg

There is quite a problem with the front derailer bracket on small-wheelers. On the development frame I left it off due to experience with this problem. On this batch I decided to chance it but their stock bracket is rather short. I placed it so it will just do a 60T-ring, and calculated it to work with a standard ring, so it is annoying that it doesn't. Did you perhaps do a quick check to see if it conforms to the drawing?

There are 58T rings with ramps and pins available on ebay; I have a black one on my Xootr Swift. Vuelta also make a 60T ring.

The derailer hanger may work as is. I had it placed as far backwards as they could do, but strictly speaking it needs a spacer between the bracket and the derailer. That will take the bottom of the bracket further back and improve the geometry. I have implemented various solutions over the years. Unfortunately there is little choice for smallwheelers off-the-shelf. Dahon tubes are too big in diameter, as is Xootr Swift, while the Tyrell is too small again.

Let's work on this one together. More later.

Are there still interested parties for a next batch? I did q quick scan of this thread and identified these possible interested members:

maunakea (post #75 )
12boy (post #121 )
spudman1 (post #126 )
towndock (post #142 )
Richbiker (post 223) (drawings sent)
bendembroski (post #224 )
tikman1313 (post #241 ) (drawings sent)
plus 2 more from private correspondence.

The seatpost alignment issue has been solved. In my 2nd frame at least. I haven't heard anything specific from the others yet.

I am not making anything out of this - it is purely my pleasure. For the 1st group buy, we clubbed together to get Peter Reich 2 sets of forks and stem risers. I thought we could skip that this time round. The others also kindly made me a donation for all my effort but I don't specifically need anything. Their donation helped me pay for some of the development cost of the 1st frame (which rides fantastic!).

So if you want in, make yourself heard. Frame+fork was previously quoted at about $1000. Extras such as seatpost ($65 IIRC) (an essential item), stem risers and other bits pushed the totals closer to $1400 each. I intend squeezing them on price.

Almost everything is customisable. In the group buy of 6 frames, only 2 were alike.

Jur, maybe you can specify a clamp on FD bracket similar to what Xootr is selling. that will solve any of the problems we are all encountering with the bracket as it is adjustable for any type of FD.

beautiful build. i particularly like the bike tires. it fits the bike. congratulations!

vuelta offers a 60t chain ring with a 130bcd. i also ordered on ebay from a taiwan seller a 58t and a 60t in 130bcd.

Still not sure what I will do. The 58 and 60 tooth chainrings are not cheap, and I don't really care if I have a 100-inch top gear. Not sure the rear derailleur will take up the chain tension if I have a 39/58 or 39/60 in front. I might just make a bracket to allow me to install the front derailleur below the weld-on bracket. Shouldn't be too hard to make, but I'm not sure that is what I want to do. Waiting on some parts to arrive tomorrow.

I finished cutting cable housing today so all I need to do is decide what front derailleur to use, tighten the front derailleur cable and install the chain and the bike will be ready to ride. The cable mounts on the frame seem well thought-out. The cable runs are very clean. I am temporarily using a screen door pulley for the frame pulley, but a real one should get here on in another couple of days. If it hadn't been raining this evening after I got home from work I might have finished the build and gone for a ride, but the forecast is for better weather tomorrow so I might go for a test ride then...

My wife thinks it is a very pretty bike, which is a plus.

my friend thinks so too and i agree. it is a beautiful bike.

Got the SRAM X9 low mount front derailleur today. The clamp fits on the frame and the height is good, but it turns out the small bike geometry means the chain drags on the derailleur cage in all the gears on the small chainring.
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psq1zmpkw8.jpg

The Shimano Ultegra mounted on the Ti weld-on is higher that Shimano recommends, but it works well and the chain doesn't rub anywhere.
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...pshjtjpnhy.jpg

Here's the bike with the SRAM derailleur.
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psebavkwvc.jpg

Here's the bike with the Shimano derailleur.
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psacgmjqsj.jpg

Bike rides well and everything works great except that either my cables are too short or my steerer tube is still to long so I can't remove the handlebars and stem for a smaller fold at the moment.
I only rode it for a couple of miles, but I am very pleased with the bike. I had to ride on the dirt next to the road a few times due to traffic but the big Schawlbe Marathon tires took it in stride. The Avid Road Disc brakes work fine so far, I'll give them a more serious test this weekend. The bullhorn bars are comfortable, Tektro brake levers are OK, MicroShift shifters are nice and work well, bike is nice and quite while riding. A more serious set of test rides will happen this weekend.

So did the New York and other east coast frames ever arrive?

RJDennis' box was missing for 2 weeks!! It just passed into the NY center this morning.

I think they fumbled the NJ destination in China, and it ended up in Mongolia or Tierra Del Fuego or some obscure place, and had to be shipped back to China. Pure guess, but it was nowhere to be found until this morning.