Dear Bill: 
 BP> G'day Steven,
Konnichiwa, Bill!
 SM>I had the same reaction when I bought my (non-suspended) Trek 
 SM> Multi-track a few years ago.  At that time, front suspension was 
 SM> fairly common on mountain bikes and rear suspension was just 
 SM> starting but no road bikes had anything like it.  Now the 
 SM> manufacturers are starting to build front suspension on some road 
 SM> bikes.  I started dreaming when I read Bianchi's...
 
 BP> Yea, I haven't seen any bike with this suspension on the road out 
 BP> here. But that doesn't mean they aren't around. As they are making 
 BP> an appearance even at K-Mart and other Dept. Stores. So somebody is 
 BP> buying them.....
There aren't many...yet.  The first one I read about was a Cannondale 
model called Silk Road about 1-1.5 years ago.  It only had front 
suspension, about 15mm of travel.  
 SM> ...1996 catalogue and saw their Paris-Roubaix model:  titanium frame 
 SM> with front and rear suspension.  It listed for 750,000 yen or 
 SM> about $Aus8,300 SM>($US6,500).  A friend of mine said "Sure, it's 
 SM> great but I won't ride something that looks like a piece of 
 SM> aircraft undercarriage."  He's right - it is not all that 
 SM> beautiful but I can still dream about it.
He also told me that the Paris-Roubaix race is famed for having really bad 
roads so dual suspension makes the extra weight worth it.  Bianchi also 
had a hybrid bike with front-only suspension in the catalogue.
  
 BP> That's right, I like to keep things as simple as possible. The more 
 BP> bells and whistels, the more can go wrong....hehehe. Nevertheless, 
 BP> it's nice to dream a bit, after all deeds evolve from dreams...
I read reviews of Ferraris for the same reason (g).
 SM>I can't wait for next year when I might buy something new.
  
 BP> There you are, Steve...keep on dreaming....:)
 
 SM> Echo (6:730/40
  
 BP> Hey Steve, please tell me more about your Origin line. Are you 
 BP> biking in Japan?
 
Indeed, I am.  Since we are getting off the topic in the subject line, 
I've sent you another message about biking here.
Later,
Steve
... 668:  The Neighbour Of The Beast
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 * Freddie 1.2.5 * The first full-featured QWK reader for the Mac.
--- GEcho 1.00
6:730/40)
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