- Have you ever heard of the Bossnut?
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, I'm Mike Levy.
We're here in Sedona, Arizona, for our annual Field Trip
where we pit a whole bunch
of value bikes against each other.
And this bike right here is Calibre's Bossnut.
It's a 130 millimeter travel 27.5-inch wheel trail bike.
If you had never heard of Calibre before, I hadn't either,
but they're a direct-to-consumer British company
that sells relatively inexpensive bikes
that they say can still be ridden hard.
Now how inexpensive?
The Bossnut goes for 1,100 British pounds,
and that equals about 1400 American dollars,
depending on taxes and duties.
Now for some perspective, that's about $600 less
than the last drivetrain I reviewed.
Now I wouldn't be surprised if a $1400 bike
had some pretty sketchy geometry,
but that's actually not the case here.
Calibre has done pretty well.
So the reach is a fairly modest 460 millimeters for a large.
Head angle, 66 degrees.
It's right in there with other trail bikes.
Seating goes 74.5.
Now that's not nearly as steep
as some other things out there,
but it's steeper than bikes were just a few years ago.
Chainstay length, 436 millimeters
across the board for all sizes.
Now none of those numbers are crazy,
but we also have to keep in mind that they're numbers
that we'll see on much more expensive bikes.
So $1400, pretty decent geometry.
All right, so what are you getting
in the suspension department for $1400?
The rear end is a single pivot linkage activated design,
and it's driving a RockShox Monarch R shock.
There's no pedal assist switch.
You don't really need one on this bike.
We'll talk about that later.
But it does have adjustable rebound.
That's paired with 130 millimeter
travel RockShox Recon RL on the front.
And just like you guessed, from the RL,
rebound and lock out adjustments.
Now all that is hung off a relatively simple aluminum frame,
but there are some interesting details to note,
including a 12-millimeter thru-axle rear end
that's not boost.
You have both kinds of is ISCG tabs
around the bottom bracket shell.
And while the bike doesn't come with a dropper post,
it is ready to accept one.
It does have the cable stops for that.
So the Bossnut weighs in at 32.4 pounds,
making it a bit lighter than some of the other bikes here
that actually cost a lot more.
Now some of that weight savings, though,
is definitely coming from the wheel size.
This is 27.5.
It's got fairly lightish tires on it.
The other bikes are 29ers,
so their wheel sets and tires are gonna weigh more.
And as we see on a lot of inexpensive value priced bikes,
there's a SRAM SX 12-speed drivetrain on here.
Now that gives you a very wide range of gears
from a very hard one to a stump-pulling gear
with that 52 tooth cog on the back.
No excuses for walking.
Slowing you down is a set of two piston SRAM Level T brakes.
Okay, so that's enough details about the Bossnut.
Let's take this thing out on the trails,
find out how it works.
(soft upbeat music)
Setting this bike up was fairly straightforward.
One thing to note is that it doesn't have tubeless tires.
Going the old-school route,
so that means we ran a little bit higher pressure
than usual. 23 in the front, 25 in the rear,
just hopefully avoid some flats.
We didn't, but we tried.
And then as far as our suspension pressures go,
we both ran around 25% sag.
And then the fork.
- The fork.
- We have this Recon fork on a number of bikes,
you might hear us say similar things,
but RockShox recommended air pressure
for our weight is around 85 pounds.
We ended up running around 115, 120 pounds.
- 115 to 120.
So for us here, to make this fork rideable,
it needs about 115 to 120 PSI.
So definitely over-pressurized.
And a few clicks of low speed compression, as well, too.
- But the rear-end 25% sag, everything was normal there.
Let's get to climbing.
(soft upbeat music)
- The geometry on this bike,
pretty upright position, pretty comfortable.
It's got those little wheels.
So if you're used to riding 29-inch wheels,
going to the 27.5, you do notice.
They don't roll over things quite as well.
But it feels fast enough.
It's not the lightest bike,
but it also doesn't feel overly heavy or draggy.
Those tires roll pretty quickly, though,
kind of just gets along its job just fine.
- The 27.5-inch wheels, obviously,
technical climbing it does make
that a little bit more difficult.
There's no way around that.
But for a lot of people, that doesn't matter.
And to be honest, I didn't dab anymore
on this bike than on a 29er.
I didn't really find it that much more difficult.
A couple things to note is the bike pedals pretty well.
We ran a 25% sag.
I mean, all these bikes seem to pedal quite well.
- [Mike] Pretty good, I mean,
it doesn't have the climb switch,
the cheater switch as you like to call it, but--
- It is cheating.
- Maybe, we won't get into that.
That's a different debate.
But either way, there's nothing to adjust there,
so it's simple, you just don't have to think about it.
Just ride up the hill and it does its job.
- Yeah, and then the last thing to note on the climbing
as well, too, is that again with the tires,
that rear tire it's a fairly
fast rolling rear tire which is nice.
The compound, it feels quite stiff,
and we need to run a little bit higher air pressure
than would be ideal because of the casing.
And again, there's a tube in there,
so traction sometimes wasn't ideal on that front.
- I guess another thing to note, while I'm climbing,
sometimes I get thirsty when I'm climbing,
there's no-- - Do you?
- A little bit, just only once in a while.
There's no room for a water bottle inside the frame.
You can mount one on the downtube.
So something to keep in mind. - Better than nothing.
- Yeah.
(soft upbeat music)
- Right off the bat, the thing feels sturdy.
It doesn't feel like it's gonna fall apart on flowy trails.
We were riding Pigtail here.
It's a fairly flowy trail
with some rough sections at the top.
It was my third fastest bike.
- You want a bike to feel solid,
doesn't want to feel like it's flexing
and twisting all over.
That bike just felt like it did what you wanted it to.
- Yep so in a lot of places, the Bossnut feels
just as capable as bikes that cost twice as much as it,
but that's not always the case.
When the speed picks up and it gets rougher and faster,
you could feel that the bike is shorter.
You can feel that it has less refined travel,
let's call it, and it's just a less planted feeling
than something like the Commencal,
or even the Norco hardtail.
I mean, both of those costs almost twice as much as this.
- [Mike] The rear shock doesn't have support there.
You can't plow through things.
It takes the edge off the hits.
I was honestly surprised.
I never felt like I needed to put
a volume reducing spacer in that thing.
I'd never felt like I needed to run way less sag.
We were running at 25%.
30's probably a little bit much.
But it just works.
(soft upbeat music)
So at time testing loop, it's about a 10 to 12 minute loop,
depending on what bike we're on.
It involved a little bit of technical uphill
traverse-y section with some rocks
and some tricky parts there,
and then the downhill that had a couple rough sections
but more flowy than super gnarly,
and a few jumps to top things off.
My times on the Calibre,
I had my fifth fastest time overall.
I actually had my second fastest climbing time.
Must have been feeling extra sporty that day.
And then my descending time was also the fifth fastest
out of all the bikes we tested.
- I had faster times than Kazimir on this bike.
I just wanted, I just wanted to reiterate that.
- Maybe the little wheels are better suited to you.
- Maybe I'm a 27.5 rider this time--
- Could be. - And I just never knew.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So my loop time, I was fifth out of eight bikes.
On the descent, though, it was tied for third
with two other bikes that cost way more,
the Commencal and the Norco hardtail.
So there you go, half as much money,
just as fast, pretty impressive.
(soft upbeat music)
- So over the two weeks of riding,
we've had a lot of time to get used to this bike,
kind of find the pros and cons of that component spec.
Let's start with those tires.
I mean, I think that was a really
the main drawback of this bike.
You can't set them up tubeless.
Believe me, we tried, just to see if it was possible.
But they're very inexpensive wire bead tires,
so no matter how much sealant and tape
and all that you put in there,
it's just unlikely that you'll be able
to set them up tubeless.
Place like this, full of sharp rocks, cactus,
you want, I'd say need tubeless tires.
So if you're purchasing this bike,
plan on budgeting some money
for new tires right off the bat.
- Yeah, you're gonna need $100+ for that,
but you're also gonna need to be thinking
about a dropper seat post.
This obviously doesn't have one.
Now I can't fault Calibre for not speccing
a dropper seat post on a $1400 bike,
but if you spend another $200
on say like a X-Fusion Manic or something like that,
it really unlocks this bike's potential,
and you're gonna have way more fun.
Other thing, rear shock bolt kept coming loose
three times, four times.
It needs some Loctite on there.
But it's all steel hardware, kept coming loose,
you'll definitely need to pay attention to that.
- This bike has SRAM's Level T two-piston brakes,
pretty basic entry-level brakes,
but they do work all right.
Not a ton of initial bite,
but there's enough power on hand for a bike like this,
for a general trail ride, I'd say.
- Another thing to mention, the rear wheel came out of true
after only a few rides.
Again, it's not the end of the world.
It just needs to be brought back after tension,
straightened, and it'll be fine.
- Well, that rear wheel doesn't have boost spacing,
so again, if you're gonna upgrade in the future,
boost spacing, which is 12 by 148-millimeter
rear axle width, that's kind of become the new norm.
This has 12 by 142 millimeter rear axle width,
just means there's not quite as many options out there
if you decided to switch out that wheel set.
- Who remembers 12 by 142?
- It wasn't that long ago, so there's enough options.
But it's just something to keep note, some of the things,
you know, it's called previous standard
is what this bike has.
Something to keep in mind.
(soft upbeat music)
- Okay, final verdict on the Bossnut.
I have to say that I was surprised,
and I think it comes down to the frame.
You've got a great starting point there
with pretty decent geometry.
You have a thru-axle rear end that's stiffer
than some of these other bikes,
even if it isn't 148 millimeter wide,
and pretty decent rear suspension.
- Yeah, it's a great place to start.
You know, this bike, someone getting into the sport,
they can start with it, upgrade a few things,
and just keep continuing on.
- Yeah, so bottom line, if you're a new trail rider,
you're not riding anything too gnarly,
this is a bike that can grow with you as you progress.
It has a great frame.
It's actually worthy of putting
even nicer parts on as you get better.
Nothing wrong with the Bossnut, is there?
- No, it's a solid place to start.
Well, there you have it.
That's the Calibre Bossnut in a nutshell.
Stay tuned for more videos from our value bikes Field Trip
as well as a roundtable discussion
where we discuss all the bikes we had on test.
(soft upbeat music)
(claps) Boom!