Originally Posted by
sjanzeir
Thanks everyone, I understand all that. But my original question was about locking up while the rider is on the bike vs. off the bike, i.e. with the suspension somewhere down its travel vs. unloaded and at the top of its travel and how much that affects geometry and handling. On a full suspension bike, for instance, could a rider fine tune the bike's handling by carefully choosing how far up or down their travel he locks out the front and rear shocks?
If I were buying a bike for precision handling I would not get one with a suspension fork. How many fast road bikes do you see with one. When you brake, the front suspension will compress and the bikes geometry will change. Handling will be affected. This is bad news racing a few feet from another rider or fast cornering.
I think suspension forks are best used for recreational cyclist and comuters traversing bad roads, mup's and light trails and of course mountain bikes. They should not be locked out. Set up properly they have very little impact on over all speed for conditions that warent their use. In fact they will increase average speed because you can maintain a quick pace on rough roads that would be punishing without them.
I didn't want them when I bought my new bike 2 years ago because I was afraid it would adversely effect handling, But as a recreational cyclist riding on some bad mup's and trails, There is no doubt in my mind the benefit FAR outweighs any other concerns.