The Trailway isn't that bad, at least for smaller guys. They at least come with 32 spoke wheels now. At 1200 miles, I haven't broken a spoke yet and while the wheels can use a little truing, they are still straight enough to not touch the v-brakes. I guess I'll see what kind of maintenance I encounter as I approach 2 or 3 times that number of miles.
What kind of speed difference did you notice switching to a solid fork?