O-dog:
I also recently entered the folding world from a roadie background. It also sounds like you want to be able to do pretty "sporty" rides on your folder. There's tons of choice here, but I went with a Downtube front suspension model (for $299) and added some upgrades. It is now my backup roadie (I sold my Lemond Zurich, which had previously been my backup).
I can attest that you can ride aggressively and pull on the handlebars all you want. I ride this bike on some of my group rides that are usually 40 miles or so, up and down hills in the SF area. It's solid. The bike weighs over 25 lbs new, but there are some easy weight reduction mods that will take 3-4 lbs off (seat, fenders, rack, kickstand, tires).
I upgraded mine a lot, but, at a minimum, I would change the BB and crank if you want to go fast on the bike. The derailleur works OK, but I changed mine to SRAM X.7 for pretty cheap.
I'm very happy with what I got for the money with this bike. Good luck in your choice...
Here's some bike pron for you:
