chiroptile

I am actually swapping out my suspension fork for a rigid one. I did one tour on it, and could barely hold the wheel steady with the front rack loaded up with gear. The whole front end would shake from side to side, fairly violently. I couldn't keep my handlebars steady. Locking the fork out fixed the problem, but effectively cancelled out any suspending properties the fork was intended to exhibit. Maybe my case was a freak occurrence, so I'm not trying to dissuade you by any means. Just wanted to give you a heads up on what to possibly expect. Definitely get a fork with a lockout mechanism if you intend to load up the front. Another option would be to look into suspension stems. I have no experience with them, and can't give you any pros and cons.