Converted the Swift to drop bars last night. Midge bar, 287-V levers, Jagwire Racer cables, barcon shifter and Deore derailer (no SRAM options for drop bars AFAIK), shorter stem. Still shifts great, brakes better (see below) and way more comfortable for me.

Now I should be ready for this weekend's planned tour: hoping to do 100-140 miles total, camping both Friday and Saturday nights. Lightly loaded, with sleeping gear but not cooking gear since there lots of towns where I can grab food along the way. Might have to spring for an 11-34 cassette before I go. Trying to decide which to do:

• Columbia Gorge. Normally this would be a slam dunk, but we're in the middle of the year's biggest (OK, only) heat wave, with temps forecasted to be in the mid to upper 90s. Plan would be to take Amtrak to Bingen or Wishram and work my way back to Portland on the bike. Winds should be light and probably favorable (often not the case in America's Wind Tunnel), but that's not necessarily comforting at 96 degrees.
• Olympia to Portland. My wife (who's driving to the Seattle area for the weekend) could drop me in Olympia Friday afternoon and I could work my way back home along (more or less) the route of the massive Seattle-To-Portland ride. Temps would be more like upper 80s, maybe low 90s for the final stretch. That's very manageable for me, and I'd be guaranteed a light to moderate tailwind most of the way.
• Portland to Eugene, taking the train back on Sunday. Also supposed to be mid 90s like the Gorge, pretty much guaranteed tailwind. Lots of good riding in the Willamette Valley, but it's no Gorge and I'd just as soon do the Olympia-Portland route with a bit less heat.

Whichever I decide, I'll report back and post some touring-Swift pr0n next week.

Also as part of last night's upgrade, swapped out the rear brake for an Avid SD7 w/blue Ritchey pads. Now the rear brake works great! Not sure what was wrong with the original Tektro -- same brake as the front, and works fine there. I tested the Avid with the Swift's original cable/bar setup and it worked great before the cable swap too, so the problem was definitely in the brake and not the cabling or lever. Strange.

.. and as for the stiffness issue mentioned earlier on this page, I find my Swift to be very stiff and responsive, comparable to my other non-folding bikes. I'm a stand-and-mash kind of guy when it comes to hills, and to me the Swift doesn't feel flexy at all under that kind of use. This weekend we'll see how it behaves with a load.

The other day I also added a rear rack to my Swift -- Burley Moose Rack, required to pull their Piccolo tagalong. Increases the folded size by a few inches, but being able to drop my child off / pick up at school is a requirement. I can still get on a train where all the bike slots are full, which was my main goal here. I can't squeeze it into some of the smaller spots where I could stuff a Brompton, but I can now go anywhere with room for me to stand with the bike. I still won't be able to get on trains packed with passengers, but I can still get on less-crowded trains with all the bike hooks taken (the more usual problem). And it still fits in a car trunk -- which I have ALREADY taken advantage of several times.