I know you said not to derail the thread, but I have to agree with Chucky on this. I live in Glasgow, so I ride in the rain more than I don't, or so it seems. (I wonder which is wetter, Portland or Glasgow -- it must be close) I wasn't thrilled with rim brakes in the wet, so looked at different option on my Swift. I've got drums front and rear, and I'm perfectly happy with their performance. No difficulty locking up either wheel in the dry or wet. They've passed the wet, high speed, downhill, car-just-pulled-out-in-front-of-me test on 3 occasions with no trouble at all. The other advantage with drums on a folder is that everything is on the "inside" so nothing get whacked out of alignment on trains / buses whatnot. They feel different from discs to be sure, but I bet they stop a small wheeled bike just as quick, wet or dry. Not that I've tested this hypothesis. There might be a weight penalty, though.