I'm looking at the on-line manufacturing sites for the bikes I've looked at/have been recommended. I'm using that as a jumping off point for research (components, etc). I haven't really decided to avoid a bike with the front suspension fork - it is more I've been advised that for the riding I do I'm probably better off letting the bike frame do that work for me and that I don't need the added feature. That might be a bunch of BS. That is one of the biggest problem I'm having. I haven't purchased a bike in 16 years. I don't really KNOW much about the technical aspects of bike specs- and getting up to speed is taking me some time. I'm really quite a novice at all this.