Seems that buying a low end MTB dooms the avid cyclist regret the buy.
This is specifically true for the suspension fork. The low end ones are, well, ahmm, crap. The Santur on my Bergemont crapped up on me twice. To the shop’s credit (RockNRoad) they fixed the fork the first time, no questions asked. The second time they were willing to fix again, but I had enough.

So I bought this rigid aluminum fork, to add to my hardtail aluminum frame.

This was the second time I assembled a fork alone (well not really alone, got some help from a legendary cyclist who happens to a neighbor and friend - Shay Vaza) assembling a fork deserves a post on it’s own

So I ended up with a rigid aluminum bike

And now that I have ridden over 1000km on it I can safely say that it was a great buy. 

For the type of rides I do, mainly to work and back, a mixture of off road/white paths and park/promenade paved paths - this bike is great commuter

Furthermore, while planning for a bike packing ride, I had the pleasure of riding the single tracks of Ben Shemen forest and it was a blast.  

Seems like keeping the bike simple is the right way to go. 

Next steps: go from 3x9 to 1x9 and get a 29″ single speed, still debating the Kona Unit vs the Charge Cooker SS