I bought one a few months back – for just £450 🙂
Amazing bike from the start but mine came in quite heavy at 14.6kg (18″) I’ve now upgraded the bar, saddle, seatpost, pedals for lighter weight parts (mostly chinese carbon) also XT cassette and KMC SL chain. Swapped out the Ardents too for an Ikon up front and a RaRa on the rear. Down to 13kg now for just £150ish extra. £600 total for a bike like this seems like a steal. Wheelset next.
Performance wise – it loves being thrown around the trail centres. The Cafall trail at cwmcarn is almost a weekly event being local. It eats up the trail on the climbs and is equally good on fast descents feeling like my 26″ full sus at times and almost as quick. The fork can just about cope with the rocky stuff incl 2 ft drops/jumps. I did have a fall recently but that was me going too fast rather than a bike issue. The bike is solid – didn’t get a scratch. Same cant be said for me 🙁
Of the stock components i’d say the best are the brakes, bar/stem (both surprisingly lightweight) and the grips. The saddle and seatpost are quite heavy though so theres a cheap weight saving to be had there. The Ardents are grippy and have a high volume so can be run at lower pressures. At 775g they aren’t ‘too’ heavy but theres certainly a weight saving to be had there also. Switching to the Ikon/RaRa combo gave a noticeable improvement in performance paticularly on the climbs and acceleration.
All in all – I dont think i’ve ever bought a bike and been so pleased with the price:performance ratio. I’ll not be blowing thousands on full sussers anymore 🙂