Lateral stiffness is a good thing. When hitting a bump (or braking or standing or riding in any way), you want the fork to telescope up and down but not deflect left or right. Larger diameter stanchions mated to a stiffer axle at the bottom will resist flex much better.
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Originally Posted by
sp00ki
Using a nicer sealed bearing headset vs a $10 set is like throwing a frisbee vs a dodgeball.