People ask about the bike a lot so here's the actual breakdown.
I'm on a Calibre Bossnut — 29er hardtail, size medium. I've had it about two years. It's done a lot of miles — Faobam probably a hundred times by now, The Gap a few times, Bike Park Ireland, everywhere local. It's battered at this point but it still does the job.
The thing about riding a hardtail is that it teaches you. If you're lazy with your line choice you feel every rock and root through the back end. You can't just point it and hope for the best. That's been good for me — I think I'm better at reading trails than I would be if I'd started on full sus.
You can't just point it and hope for the best.
That said — watching a friend on his full sus at Bike Park Ireland, carrying speed through the rough stuff that was slowing me down, was a bit annoying. He's not a better rider than me technically. The bike just lets him get away with more. That's kind of the whole argument for full sus in one moment.
The biggest change was the tyres. The stock ones were terrible in the wet — basically slicks on anything damp, which in Ireland means they were useless half the time. Swapped to Maxxis Ardent front and Ikon rear and the difference in grip was obvious straight away, especially in corners.
The brakes went soft on me after a while. a friend's dad bled them — proper syringe bleed, mineral oil — and they came back to feeling like new. If your brakes feel spongy, bleed them before you decide you need new brakes. It's nearly always just air in the line.
The fork. The Suntour does the job but you can feel the budget in it on anything rough — dives a bit under heavy braking and the damping is basic. A RockShox Recon or Fox Rhythm would transform the front end. Someday.
Full sus. Looking at the Canyon Spectral and the YT Jeffsy — both around the €2,000–€2,500 mark which is going to take a while. Not in a rush to buy something bad though. A cheap full sus with rubbish suspension is worse than a good hardtail. I'll wait until I can do it properly.
When I upgrade I'll do a full post on it. Until then — the Bossnut is doing fine and I'd rather be riding than waiting.
See it in action on TikTok @d.emtb.