I have long been fascinated by the Rock Shox Paris-Roubaix SL, of Belgian cobbles hard men fame. It just seems like the sort of weird, inspired, and gloriously dead-end bike tech that a certain type of C&V'er loves. Like delta brakes, lugged carbon, electronic shifting (oh wait . . . ).



So far, I have struggled to find even a thin rationale to justify building a bike around one. Our pavement is pretty good in Portland, and there are only a few blocks of bricked streets downtown, and even a "soft man" like me can manage to survive a dayride on a non-suspended roadbike.

Can I ask you guys and gals to exercise your imaginations? Help me find a reason to increment n.

If you had a SL fork in hand, what bike would you build around it, and why? Road bike? Cross bike? Or, would you warn me away from the idea?