Lots of good information, thanks all.
Plan was to avoid the big box stuff, started there jsut to see what sort of things are available then come here for the purpose of being to pointed to better outlets and talked out of said big boxes. Bikes Direct has handled that to a T.
At the moment liking the looks of the Gravity X-Rod 8.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...peed-bikes.htm
This ticks all the boxes- comfort saddle, more upright bars for my worn old 54 year back, and yes- those discs I'm fixated on. I hear and grasp all the potential issues and can see the cost difference clearly. (No mechanical option, only hydraulic? Poo.)
Thing is I've got a deep-seated loathing for any kind of rim rubbers. Per my late father, I could "tear up a cast iron jackass." As such I forget that it's possible to have wheels that aren't bent/dented/curb hop damaged, and then there's that lovely delay when the wheels are wet. Ugh. I know I might be walking face first into a cast iron skillet being swung at me with my eyes wide open, but I want to play around with this new style of toy and accept the risk of high-maintenance annoyance.From a chrome-framed no-name 20 inch Spyder bike with old school calipers and a 3 speed twist grip rear hub to a Schwinn LeTour III with center-pull calipers I hate rim brakes,
Assuming I buy this one, I'm not in a "must order now" rush- but that really does look much like what I had in mind to end up with after construction and alteration to suit. May end up going there, might find something that suits better, don't know.