Fear&Trembling

I doubt (although this all subjective opinion) the BAs will offer appreciably better puncture protection than Comet Kevlars 1.35/1.5 (the BAs are a lot wider which means there is a greater tyre surface area to attract more sharp detritus) but they will soften the ride if you want to go over rougher terrain, or if the Brooklyn roads are badly cratered...

The Marathon Racer might be a worth considering - 40/406.

yangmusa

He he, I met James_Swift on Caltrain last week, and we had a laugh at how tall my bike looked compared to his

Yes it is..

I used some heavy duty picture hooks from the local hardware store. They're stainless, and rated at 100 lbs, so should hopefully stand up to the punishment! I had to hack them a little to make them fit, but they were less than $2 There's a close-up picture on the blog linked below.

james_swift

His seat tube is longer than than my leg...really.

james_swift

They're the Nashbar TT bars for $12.45. Plug-in a coupon from the Coupons forum for even more joy.

Just a few notes: the bar tops have a drop mid-way in the bar, which looks cool, but doesn't make for a comfortable on-the-tops riding position (unless you don't mind riding with your hands close together alongside the stem). The bar is standard 26.0, so BMX levers may not fit (perhaps unless you have hinged mounts). Other than that, bullhorns provide lots of leverage for out-of-the-saddle efforts, and better low-speed balance and control (still learning how to do a trackstand ). If you do go with bullhorns, angle the bars upwards to match the angle of your wrists when you are in your seated riding position.

spambait11

Excellent idea! Thanks again!

zepi

here are some images of my swift.

Frame: older steel Swift from RAB (fitted to 120mm)
Rims: Alex DA16 (frontwheel uses 24 spokes on 36 holes)
Hubs: "Sprinter" 60's Flipflop Track Hubs with original wingnuts.
Tires: Continental Sport Contact 28mm
Break: Campagnolo Veloce linearpull cantilever for roadbikes
Crank: Shimano600 (52/14)
Pedals: old Gipiemme trackbike
Saddle: vintage Ideale Swallow Cutaway
The stem will be changed to one that fits better.

The bike rides delightful.

EDIT: Pics updated with new stem and ezy-pedals
EDIT: Changed gearing to 52/13. That is much better.

JackJ

Very nice! I love the curved rake on the fork that comes w/ the steel Swifts. And nice lacing pattern on the front wheel.

Can you get those wing nuts tight enough by hand so the rear wheel doesn't slip? I guess so, since they were standard equipment before q/r came along. But my hands hurt thinking about it.

james_swift

Classic parts! I didn't know Campy made road linear pulls. Nice cutaway.

This is the first bike I've seen with the Conti Sport Contacts. I'm sure everyone here would like to know how they ride.

big boy phil

Great looking swift.
Got a general question though. Any word on when the updated steel swift will be released? Has anyone heard any new info.

zepi

right, I indeed replaced the rear wingnuts with standard track-nuts to keep the wheel in place. it looks less classy, but it works fine.

The sport contacts are super. I do not have much comparison though. I enjoy riding them rock-hard (6,5 bar). They feel extremely fast and responsive. The S-profile looks very interesting and Continental gives some kind of guaranty against flat tires. That made my desicion.
I had a look at the big apples, but they didn't seem to be my cup of tea...

The campagnolo break also works good and seems to be a good deal. They are not that painfully expensive (about 60USD/pair) and do a good job with many types of levers.

Ah, and I got myself a pair of those MKS-EZY pedals. They are terrific with classic toe clips. Very convenient!

zepi

I put my swift on some severe performance testing in the last days: I rode two 7.5 hrs shifts as a bike-messenger in vienna with it. thats about 100km per shift. It was great fun and the swift did a good job!
My colleagues where a little surprised when we counted our vouchers, that I did that with a folding-bike...
well, a very serious folding bike!

james_swift

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

spambait11

Holy smokes, James!

When and under what circumstance did you find this?

(Lucky for you they still make 'em in CroMo! )

DaFriMon

Covered by warranty? If so, let us know how it turns out, please. No intention of buying a Swift at the moment, but it's a brand I keep in mind as a possible for some time in the future.

Best of luck, anyway.

james_swift

I was actually trying to investigate why a creaking sound emanating from the lower seat tube area had developed yesterday while on my commute.

I sent an email to Xootr, and got a response in 30 minutes saying that they can ship me a new bike on Monday. Woohoo! I'm getting it in blue this time.

The email also explained that the Xootr design team has incorporated a change in the frame that will prevent this from happening again on new Swifts.

Well I'm happy. Just need to dust-off the Dahon for next week's commute 'til my new blue Swift arrives.

LittlePixel

Zepi - your Swift is a really sublime ride. Lovely choice of components - nothing shouty but impressive to those that know. Can I ask if it's a fixie or freewheel? If the former you should get it posted to the fixed gear gallery. Also - care to elaborate on your trick 24/36 spoking on the front. Did you fill the unused holes with anything?

spambait11

So this was an acknowledged problem? Do you, et al., get to upgrade to the new frames once they're out?

james_swift

I can't answer for the Xootr team, but perhaps it is a known problem. As for automatic free upgrades, I highly doubt it, but nothing to be overly concerned about since all Xootr frames come with a lifetime warranty standard.

Back to stripping all my custom parts off my defunct Swift...

Fear&Trembling

I have lost three bikes in a similar manner (only one was folder though). Good to hear that Xootr have been amenable.

Well, hopefully it will diminish the likelihood of it happening again.

james_swift

I just found this poking-around the Xootr bike gallery:

https://xootr.com/xootr/swift/images/...Washington.jpg

It looks like Karl is running a 16" wheel on the front.

james_swift

OK, how in the world did this guy get disc brakes on his swift???

https://xootr.com/xootr/swift/images/JanAaldersSwift.jpg

Awesome!

JackJ

Look at the size of that chainring! 18t? Anyone know what crank can go that small?

JackJ

Wow. I'll be keeping any eye on mine, especially because I keep making the clamps a little tighter to kill some minor creeks. How much pressure were you using to close the top q/r? I know it's hard to quantify, but was it always really tight? Like it left an impression on your palm, and you had to brace the bike while closing?

I'd heard about some forthcoming minor changes from Peter when I ordered mine a couple of months ago. I'm looking foward to your description of them. The only specifics I recall were different (bigger?) gussets at the headtube, I think.

Jack

james_swift

Nick at commutebybike.com detailed his Swift fixie conversion project.

zepi

Thanks! Yes it is a very nice ride. Everything sort of fits together.
The frame has a great patina (that can not be catched on photo), it looks like it has been ridden and taken good care of for years and years. That matches great with the look of the antique saddle and the wing-nuts etc.
Interesting detail: I think the original rear fitting of the frame was 120mm and has been fitted to 130mm later (it was 130 when I got it). I re-fitted it to 120mm track-bike width which is a clear commitment to singlespeed/fixed. Is anybody familiar with the measurements of the early swifts?

I use fixed 13T on 52T on the front chainwheel. As my hub is a flipflop, I would enjoy having a freewheel as an option. But the smallest freewheel available for my hub, has 16T. For me that is unridable with a 52T ring in the front, because i enjoy slow and hard pedaling. Sadly chainrings bigger than 54T are not really available. I would need something like 64-68T for a good ride with a 16T freewheel and a 406 tire. So I will stick to my 13/52 fixed ratio.

The lacing-pattern on my front-wheel is not too much of a trick. And if it is, I will happily reveal it:
I got very inspired by Mr. Cristian Smolik, who is a german guru in terms of bicycle technics. (The man who built a race-bike weighing incredible 3.9kg!). In case of my steel swift it is ofcourse more about the idea than saving weight. My bike shows 10.5kg on the scale.
To result the pattern, shown on the images below, just follow the logic of a classic double crossed lacing, but skip every third hole. It will be a good idea to close the holes of the missing spokes to avoid dirt getting inside. I'll do that with some simple adhesive film soon.
I also experimented with triple crossing, but due to the small wheel diameter the spokes got terribly bent in the area of the flanges. Probably even a nifty SINGLE crossed 24 spokes on 36 holes pattern would work. I will try that next time.
PS.: I used the same lacing-pattern on BOTH wheels of my Auto-Mini 20" race-bike (6 gear sprocket). Works great! 36 spokes seem far too much on 20"...