>>1122608>it doesn't feel like you lose much energy to the suspensionThat depends on your style of riding as well as on the suspension:
A smooth high cadence ride won´t loose much on a stiff suspension,
a rough off the saddle climb with high load changes looses a signfificant amount of power to a soft suspension.
I could make a thermography of a hardtail MTB soon and show how the suspension actualy heats up during off sadle sprints or even climbs.
