Having owned a Roubaix (with the FS) for 3 weeks the greatest benefit to me is the calming of the heavy front end vibrations it provides. My story is a bit unique in that I broke both my wrists in a motorcycle accident years ago and the repair was not cut and dry. So because of that my wrists are more susceptible to vibration than most.

It was affecting me a good bit with my old Cannondale too. I could ride it but rough roads were a pain from a vibration standpoint. So when I decided I wanted to upgrade my bike (wanted to try electronic shifting and a carbon frame) and I heard about the FS I had to give it a shot!

And it does exactly what it says it does. Roads that I would avoid on my Cannondale to avoid the vibrations in my wrist I can down go down with ease now. There is still vibration (it's not a cure-all) but the level is acceptable to my wrists.

I'm also not foolish enough to go hit every deep hole or crevice I can find to test it out (I do avoid the major pits in the road as i did with my other bike).

So while it might be a gimmick (especially if you can handle the vibrations and rough impulses from a regular frame with carbon fork) it can be valuable to some subsets of riders!