I started out on a full rigid steel bike. The biggest problem was parts falling off from all the pounding and vibration.

The new bikes still have poor water sealing on the bearings, a driveline that refuses to operate when packed with freezing mud and balky cable systems, but beyond that they seem to work pretty well. I still spend a ton of time working on my bikes especially after a long muddy race. I did a 6 hour in the pouring rain and wore the brake pads right down to the backing plates, then kept goin and braking with the steel on steel until the pistons stuck open. Enough already.

Cyclocross is sort of a walk down memory lane with the crappy canti brakes and tubular tires rotting in the garage

I agree about the hard tail, but I do like my rear suspension for our rooty, rocky northeastern singletrack