Spotted: RAD Prototype Fox Inverted Suspension Fork

I will buy it in an instant!

Every so often, a major manufacturer prototypes or introduces an inverted fork which gets everyone whispering, and just about every time the results are lackluster because inverted forks have deleted the brake arch, which happens to be a major structural element. A lot of times manufacturers compensate for the lack of an arch with proprietary technology which, alas, is generally not enough. TLDR: inverted forks for anything other than DH do well in the market only when they take major steps to compensate for the lack of an arch, or target boutique buyers.
-Push Industries NineOne: has nothing to compromise for the lack of an arch, unless you count a kilogram of mass. Push asked 2600 dollars for this fork, now is taking only 2000. Let’s see if they keep making it.
-X-Vert: used interlocking channels on the legs, like in a dropper post. Abandoned before it made it to production.
-DVO proto: used collets between the upper legs and crown to bump up the upper leg diameter even more, plus used connected lower leg protectors as a kind of arch. Abandoned before it made it to production.
-Rock Shox RS1: used very big diameter, one-piece carbon upper legs and a proprietary axle that was 27mm in the middle but inexplicably stepped down to 15mm at the dropouts. The RS1 debuted at 1400 strong 2014 dollars, and soon was discontinued before being blown out for 500 bucks on eBay, where they lingered for years because no one wanted them.
-Maverick DUC32: used dual crowns, baseball bat diameter upper legs and a 24mm thru-axle. The DUC32 had a decent run of several years in the market, and Maverick even prototyped a DUC36 with even bigger upper legs, but Maverick went out of business.
-Manitou Millennium: introduced the Hex-Lock thru-axle, specifically to compensate for the lack of an arch. The Millennium soon disappeared from Manitou’s catalog, although the Hex-Lock is still with us.
-Intend: relatively recent boutique fork without special features, sells for 2000 bucks.
-Cannondale Lefty: used dual crowns, a whopping 46mm upper leg diameter and 36mm lower one, an axle integrated with the lower leg, and virtually twist-proof square legs riding on needle bearings. Notably, the Lefty is the only non-downhill upside-down fork to stay on the market for more than a few years.