Originally Posted by
bhkyte
But they can replace the role of a fast road bike in my experience, at least for commuting.
Sure,but the OP wants to replicate the feel of his current bike:
What is the folder that will ride and feel as close to that as possible?
That won't be easy.
Originally Posted by
bhkyte
Problem with some dropped bars is getting road sti to work with v brakes. I found this ok on the downtube if v brakes set to very tight clearence and soft pads fitted.
STI's with V's require these:
http://problemsolversbike.com/products/travel_agents
Anything else is pure kludge. Used these on my old cross bike when I converted from canti's to V's,my Speed Pro TT came with them stock,and my friend's wife has a Terry that came with them stock. They're really the best solution. It's one thing to cob something together to get a bike to shift gears,but brakes really need to be done properly.
Originally Posted by
bhkyte
Wrists are stronger in a vertical postion anyway, so drops improve braking ability.
Don't know that I'd agree with that. There are many factors to braking performance. Never noticed a dif between my dropbar and flatbar bikes that didn't have to do with the brakes themselves and the tires I was running. You'll certainly never get a dropbar bike running 23's to stop as well as a flatbar bike running 2inchers.