Yesterday I went for a ride in a park for about 8 miles. Where I ride is paved but I use a mountain bike because there are other folks on the pavement and sometimes I ride onto the grass to avoid them. Yesterday, for the first time, I locked out the front shock for most of the ride. I found that my pace went up about 2-3 mph and when up on the pedals, my top speeds increased dramtically. My questions is would I be much better off with a road bike? Would there be more of a significant difference in the performance as well. I always know a MB slowed me down a bit but I was shocked (no pun intended) at the difference with the lock-out engaged.