Thanks for the replies, all. I'll look for that Ken Cox post. What I'm hearing pretty much confirms my suspicions that it's not as tough on the knees as some people make it out to be, particularly with the fairly conservative riding I'll probably be doing (no huge skids, I think). If all goes well, I hope to be able to drink the Kool-Aid in the next month or two. I'm particularly excited about the Flying Pigeon possibility (@onetwentyeight: A mis-translation of "Flying Dove" that's still used decades later), and will post pictures if/when it comes together.