Kivin, I think you have done your homework very thoroughly concerning your purchase. The key would seem to be that 90% of your riding is on pavement with the other 10% on gravel. This is similar to my riding conditions but with a bit more gravel and rail trails. After a lot reading, I bought a DS 8.3 with a suspension fork. The fork added a lot of weight to the bike (about 2 kilos) and I found it unnecessary for me so I replaced it with a carbon fork, the bike got a lot more road friendly and still handles the gravel and light trails just as well. The bike also lost 2.5 kilos. So bottom line, I think you would do well to buy a solid aluminum frame with a steel fork in your budget based on what you have described. If your riding included a steady diet of MTB or technical single track then the weight and loss of pedaling efficiency might make the suspension fork worth it, other wise I would say not.