What would you buy?

Whats your budget, as this will impact your choices.

And do you want a Full sus or Hardtail?

i would recommend a trail bike to be honest.

After a while Hardtails become hard on the bones!! I moved from a HT to the Full Suss. its like a magic carpet ride.

A decent spec Full Sus Trail bike with 150mm up front and 140back is enough to get down all the rough natural stuff around.

It is hard to beat the online only brands for price, so take a look at Canyon.

The spectral starts around 2.5k, a friend has one and its a great machine.

Trek are also good, and you have the bonus of seeing them in the flesh in shops here. Again around the 2.5k mark.

This is really the starting price point for new full sus.

For hardtail you could be looking at around 1.5k for a decent one.

There are a lot of brand, all are good. its hard to get a bad bike at this price point.

Just avoid halfords what ever you do...

Some good deals in the second hand market too.... Have a look on MTB buy and sell on Facebook.

Sorry to hear that, keep an eye on Donedeal. I would get something like a vitus mythique, ideally a couple of years old second hand, should be able to get one for about 1200e

Full face is a no brainer imo, your teeth and face will thank you and a helmet is a lot cheaper than multiple trips to the dentist. Even in trail centre's there is so many rocks, stumps and other solid objects on the side of the trail. Everyone perceives risk differently, but that would be my take on it.

Very nice. I remember taking a test on a carbon cube stereo 160 years ago at a demo day in Carrick. was a 27.5 and by far the nicest bike I tested.

anyway yep full face lid for sure. I got a fox pro frame and very happy with it. not noticeable once its on, very light and well ventilated.

You will get the odd look as people might wonder if you intend on sending 60 foot gaps but its becoming more normal.

Might start wearing a full face MTB helmet on the commute to work/shops, so dangerous, better to be protected..

Most Coillte trails are basically "narrow fireroad" trails, CX bike is useable, if you've seen any of Enduro Racer Greg Callaghan's video's of him on both Coillte and natural trails on his gravel bike...

Getting back to the subject in question, a modern hardtail with a 130mm fork is fine for the majority of Irish trails, even places like "The Gap" unless you plan on trying to keep up with Greg Callaghan or fancy yourself as the next Ronan Dunne maybe then go for a 150/170mm enduro bike and full face/body armour, everywhere else is the equivalent of installing a cage and harness in your car to drive to the shops...

That's in Carrick, isn't it? That's a lot more intimidating when you're there in person than it looks on that video. And the run-in is tricky. Landing is the good thing about it though.

You don't want to wear a full face, we get it. But many people do wear them and that its their perogative. You shouldn't be trying to put people off wearing safety gear by belittling the risk. Personally wouldn't be without the full face whether its a lap of Ballinastoe or doing trails in Djouce, but as I say each to their own.

You're implying a full face is overkill and people don't need them. The Coillte trails in Ballinastoe are no longer 'narrow fireroads', they are full of features, rocks and stumps. Yes you can wear a half shell, but wearing a full face isn't a bad idea all things considered.

Anyway, thats my opinion, you have yours, main thing is to enjoy the ride.

Funny I was on some coillte trails. Having come off bruised thumb was it, had gloves, knee pads, elbow pads (first time for knee and elbow pads).

Although chatting to a guy with body armour and full face helmet said "need to go to work on Monday morning". So I wouldn't knock anyone wanting to wear a full face and protection and as I get older I think I don't heal as quick as I used to !

Think I may get a full face !

::what type of maintainence do I have to regularly do

If you do your own servicing, getting familiar with stripping it down and rebuilding. I replaced the entire set of bearings on all the pivots. Presumably you want to get the shock and fork serviced by a specialist.

Week to week, checking all the bolts are tightened, as everything is designed to move (in contrast to the hardtail/road bike)

You might want to learn how to bleed your brakes. Check for YouTube videos showing how to do your particular brakes. You'll need a couple of syringes, some plastic tubing, some kind of connector for the tubing to go to the calliper/lever bleed port, and some fluid (mineral oil or dot 5.x).

Shock: you'll probably want to drop that into somewhere like RH Suspension, Bike Rack, Expert for full rebuild after about 200/300 hours (1 or 2 years). You're supposed to do a mini-service after 50 hours (air sleeve oil change and seals), but you'll get away with not doing that and just doing the full one, which would include the mini one. The full one is tricky to do because you might need specialist equipment to do the nitrogen, and even to take off the air sleeve (Fox X2, for example). So you're best off getting that done somewhere instead of doing it yourself. Costs 120 - 160 (RH Suspension is probably the best, but the most expensive).

Fork: full (uppers and lowers) 200 hours. You're supposed to do the lower leg service every 50 hours. That's taking off the lower legs, cleaning it out and changing the oil in each side (each leg: rebound damper side and air spring side), and changing the foam rings (foam seals at the top of the legs), and maybe the dust wiper seals. You'll need the oil (Fox needs the two types of oil usually, one for each leg), SRAM butter grease or the equivalent for the dust wipers, foam rings, crush washers (although you can reuse the ones on it usually), and maybe the dust wiper seals, but you can probably do 2 or 3 lower legs before you need to replace those. So just do the minimum oil/foam-ring change a few times, then do the full one (yourself or have the shop do it). Full includes loads of seals in the uppers as well as a bit of oil there too.

Loads of YouTubes on shock and fork services.

Ah yes, it's Bree. I got mixed up. Hefty gap though.

Well, horses for courses, I certainly won't be fluting around with suspension parts, bearings or spoke tensions myself, I would rather trust an actual bike mechanic...

Yes, sounds like the Fullface helmet is ideal for you...