Road Cycling - 700c road suspension

i can't believe the lack of a 1" threadless fork for a 700c wheel.i know not many true roadies want a suspension fork,but im not a true roadie. I mostly ride in the city and i think drop bars suck to be honest with you.Flat bars i think look cooler and are much more agile around traffic.you can't brake or shift from most drops.Flat bars are just so much more practical and there are tons of options with levers and shifters.now back to my real topic,suspension forks. To my knowledge the only front forks that come 1" threadless are rock shox metro and an rst model which i forget but know they make and you have to buy thr steerer seperate though.Now i just found out that R.S. stopped making the metro! Luckily i found one of the last 1" threadless models at a distant bike shop on the internet.If i had the ability/opportunity i would invent something along the lines of a headshok like cannondale makes but you could retro fit it to your existing steerer tube by just sliding it down and on.Im sure it would involve a lot more than that but i would buy one if someone made it.All i want is 2" of travel and light weight,is that too much to ask?We can put a man on the moon,but i can't have suspension on my 1" citybike front fork?I haven't put the metro on yet but i'll let you know how it goes in a future posting.oh by the way i have a Trek x/o cyclocross bike (blue) set up with a easton carbon flatbar, a kore 25 deg.105mm stem,xt shifter/brake combo with xt v-brakes front and rear,an xtr front derailleur,an ultegra rear derailleur,spinergy carbon spoked rims,mavic cxp14 rims,an s.d.g. blue kevlar saddle,ritchey v2 clippless blue pedals,rock shox metro front fork,ultegra cranks and a double chainring 9 speed set-up,an aheadset threadless headset,a sigma sport cyclocomputer,all blue rubino zaffiro 700x23 tires,bontrager jones 700x32 knobbies,a small frame pump,and a little under seatbag.this frame is great cause it's not as small as a mountain bike and it doesn't have race geometry it's just real strong and comfortable.i love the flat bar setup and would never ride drops again. i know road weanies say im not a true road rider but i guess im not cause i love to ride in downtown boston thru all the traffic and people it really lets you know you are alive! well i hope i didn't bore you too much.hope to see you out there sean

After my first year of road cycling with 8,600km, I prefer drops over my flat MTB bar for control etc....perhaps it's just a matter of getting used to drops? and getting used to braking and shifting in the drops? mind you I do must in traffic riding on the brake hoods.

Brendon

2" travel? that's about 50mm right?

I would agree about flatbars and city riding. But the 2" fork, I think it would ruin your frame geometry..

In road frames, ST angle is critical. Modifying the total fork length will tend to make the bike feel odd.. Pedal efficiency might not be as good.

In hybrid/crossbike geometries, however, you can do this safely since they tend to have more relaxed geometries.

But you're in the right way. Innovation is the key to new inventions. Keep it up.

2" of travel is kinda impractical, even for city riding...unless you are doing some crazy stuff on your bike. those forks that you listed should be fine for city riding.

I agree with your assessment that flat bars give you alot more agility...

I think you would really appreciate what drop bars have to offer though, if you had the opportunity to do long rides out on the open road.

i can't believe the lack of a 1" threadless fork for a 700c wheel.i know not many true roadies want a suspension fork,but im not a true roadie. I mostly ride in the city and i think drop bars suck to be honest with you.Flat bars i think look cooler and are much more agile around traffic.you can't brake or shift from most drops.Flat bars are just so much more practical and there are tons of options with levers and shifters.now back to my real topic,suspension forks. To my knowledge the only front forks that come 1" threadless are rock shox metro and an rst model which i forget but know they make and you have to buy thr steerer seperate though.Now i just found out that R.S. stopped making the metro! Luckily i found one of the last 1" threadless models at a distant bike shop on the internet.If i had the ability/opportunity i would invent something along the lines of a headshok like cannondale makes but you could retro fit it to your existing steerer tube by just sliding it down and on.Im sure it would involve a lot more than that but i would buy one if someone made it.All i want is 2" of travel and light weight,is that too much to ask?We can put a man on the moon,but i can't have suspension on my 1" citybike front fork?I haven't put the metro on yet but i'll let you know how it goes in a future posting.oh by the way i have a Trek x/o cyclocross bike (blue) set up with a easton carbon flatbar, a kore 25 deg.105mm stem,xt shifter/brake combo with xt v-brakes front and rear,an xtr front derailleur,an ultegra rear derailleur,spinergy carbon spoked rims,mavic cxp14 rims,an s.d.g. blue kevlar saddle,ritchey v2 clippless blue pedals,rock shox metro front fork,ultegra cranks and a double chainring 9 speed set-up,an aheadset threadless headset,a sigma sport cyclocomputer,all blue rubino zaffiro 700x23 tires,bontrager jones 700x32 knobbies,a small frame pump,and a little under seatbag.this frame is great cause it's not as small as a mountain bike and it doesn't have race geometry it's just real strong and comfortable.i love the flat bar setup and would never ride drops again. i know road weanies say im not a true road rider but i guess im not cause i love to ride in downtown boston thru all the traffic and people it really lets you know you are alive! well i hope i didn't bore you too much.hope to see you out there sean
Gee,my cannondale silkpath 700 has a single shock that you can lockout if you want,700X28 tires,around 26 pounds,riser bars,mavic rims with XTR hubs and XTR brakes and it works great around town and in and out of traffic.Its like new,a 2000.Oh,its for sale.

I went with the flat bar road bike after back surgery and love them! The only disadvantage I see is more wind resistance, but given 8 out of 10 rides I'm solo anyway - I'll take the comfort over the speed (14 -17 mph/2-3hrs).