Your body and tires should be shock absorbers, and your eyes used to try to avoid as many hazards as possible. Just because you are being cushioned, doesn't mean your wheels won't take some damage if you hit a big enough pot hole hard enough. You'll do much better with a bike that can accept at least 32 mm wide tires, and adjust tire pressure accordingly. If your suspension locks out (ad you only ride the pavement), what's the point? You aren't supposed to lock out the fork under load (especially on those cheap forks), mean you should stop and unweight the front, hit the lockout and then start up again. Maybe consider a sprung saddle if you want some cushioning.