I prefer the springs, they smooth out vibration and small bumps. I weight about 210 pounds. If you weight less than 150, you might not notice the springs because they might be too stiff for your weight.

I find that the springs are not much benefit on my bike with 26 X 2.0 tires, as the tires soak up a lot of the rough road. But the springs are really nice on my bike with 700 X 28mm tires when they are pumped up to 120 psig because at that tire pressure I feel every bit of the rough road.

It only smooths out the vibration and small bumps in the road. You still have to put your weight on the pedals (take the weight off of the seat) for the big bumps, so don't expect it to turn into a Cadilac type of soft ride where you feel like you are riding on air.

I don't have the Flyer, I have the Conquest which is a discontinued model with the shape of a Brooks Pro. I assume the springs on the Conquest are the same springiness as the Flyer. Several months ago I tried to measure how much spring deflection there was when I was in the saddle. I do not recall the exact numbers with certainty because I did not write the numbers down, but I think it was about 3 or 4 mm. It was enough that I have my saddle nose adjusted slightly lower than it would be if there were no springs.

They can develop a squeak, I use Proofide to lubricate the places where metal rubs on metal to get rid of the squeak.