Originally Posted by cyccommute

Yes. Look for a fork with a lock out on it, however. That way, when you don't need it, you can ride a bike with a rigid fork. I recently put a Manitou Black on my hard tail and, with the fork locked out, I find that I'm much faster on pavement. Off-road, the fork is nice and plush and I'm willing to sacrifice some energy for the comfort and controll. On pavement, the fork just sucks the life out of the bike...and me

By the way, I did a mountain bike tour of Colorado many years ago on a rigid bike. It took six months for me to get the feeling back in all of my fingers after only a week of riding. Get bar ends too. They help by letting you ride with your hands in different places.