This is not correct.
It works perfectly fine in manual mode on a hardtail. And in case you think I am some rando on the internet just inventing stuff, this is my bike. It has the normal Isostrut in the rear, and a Flight Attendant fork. Before, I ran this exact setup on a Scott Scale hardtail. I change fork modes by pushing both SRAM Force shifters at the same time.
Pretty sure those “brootal gravel” dudes you see it running on their dropbar hardtail do what I do and just switch manually. Budget is not an issue for them and it avoids cable clutter and installing some weird remote lockout switch on your dropbar bike.
