That means the saddle to bar drop is two feet - maybe a record

Thats how we roll in the 41!

Insecure ?

What pro team do you race for? Just curious so I can watch during next year's Tour de France. Attitudes like yours are one of the biggest reasons cyclists get a bad rap....that elitist crap. I'm more than confident that there are plenty of Bike Friday owners who are better and safer riders than you by a long shot, just without the snobby attitude. This goes for a lot of different bikes besides just the Bike Friday.

I'd even wager that many normal Bike Friday owners are stronger riders than you are as well. Bike Fridays are often chosen as the bike of choice for people who have the time and money to travel all over the country (and world) to ride, ride, ride. Remember that the next time you are struggling up the hill, struggling to stay with the pace line, struggling with the days ride, as you see some middle aged guy(girl) blast past you without a care in the world.

P.S. I've seen plenty of young folks on Bike Fridays too, they aren't just the domain of middle-age folks that it may of sounded like in the last post. They are a bike for everyone.

And no, I'm not a Bike Friday shill. I don't own one or have any current plans to buy one. I just respect their riders like I would any other cyclist.

Many a roadie has been happy to sit on my wheel as I've done my one way commute on my SS Brompton.

Disc brakes on a 20" wheel travel bike are dumb though. It's total overkill in the braking power department, adds unnecessary weight, and packing and transporting a disc bike is a great way to tweak your rotors.

Until you're descending long steep hills. 20" wheels are easier to overheat than 700c making it more likely to blow a tube.

Good point. The same conditions would make for hotter rotors and brakes more prone to fade, but I guess I would prefer that to a high speed blowout.

Well.... The smaller rim has a smaller diameter, so in theory it could have problems dissipating heat. That factor isn't going to affect a disc brake setup, as the heat dissipation will depend on the rotor size, along with properties of the pad and design of the calipers.

That said, I never had an issue with 20" rims getting too hot, and did just fine with v-brakes. I'd say discs offer much more advantages for larger wheels than smaller ones.

I did have a sudden blowout of the front tire of my Bike Friday when I came to a stop after a steep descent. Since then I've been careful to do more of the braking with the rear brake on substantial descents and haven't had a recurrence. But it does seem to me that this is an issue with small wheels and one that would be fixed by use of discs where the rotor size could be the same regardless of rim diameter. Another advantage of discs is that they eliminate the rim wear due to the brake pads which is also more of a problem with small wheels that have a smaller brake-track area and therefore wear out faster.