"Your roads are better than ours."

We can argue on the value of suspension, but I'm not sure we can really compare roads. Who knows whose is better? We've got a nice abundance of potholes, sloppy road patchings, and other disasters. I don't, however, ride on a bus route, but on the occasions I wander downtown am amazed by the damage those monsters do over a good winter. I do, however, have a nice deep 2' x 4' pothole in front of my house, which is on a low traffic street. I just haven't managed to hit it on a bike yet, mostly because I know it's there. My current commute takes me over a railroad crossing, a brick paved street (monument Ave), and a succesion of metal plates placed atop the street surface rather sloppily, in addition to the potholes/repairs. But I still wouldn't ride a suspension bike on them-- I'll just steer around them.