The Soda was lovely to ride and I can see why Cotic bikes have such a great reputation for handling. I had a few "issues" with the demo bike components and the trail conditions which limited what I could do (was willing to do) with it but I got out of the ride the information I wanted. It was great to compare the Soda with my Whyte 19 Steel - very interesting comparison.
The Fox F120 forks were a great match. A longer fork would help the front end a bit as the bike tended to stall a little when thrown at things my slacker Whyte (and Nicolai) plough through, but making the seat angle any slacker would make climbing steep and gnar very tricky - the climb/descend dilema. The Forks completely out-class the Reba SL's I have on my Whyte 19 despite being QR rather than 20mm bolt through (But I would still go 15/20mm everytime).
Feel wise the Ti is definetly closer to steel than it is to Al (in my opinion and experience). Under power and sprinting it's a bit stiffer round the BB than my Whyte 19 steel and yet it keeps the pingy back end feel. Lovely, and what I look for in a hardtail.
Summary - steel is budget Ti, or Ti is blow the budget steel
The difference in cash is a lot to spend to reduce weight, but if you have the cash it seems a shame not to make the most of it... Nae pockets in a shroud
.
Back to the BFe and Soul question - for XC type work it has to be the Soul unless you can only afford the BFe. If your wanting to stick a big fork on it and hoon then it has to be the BFe - if you want to be able to do both then the BFe with two forks or an adjustable fork would be the way to go - and you also get the option of an uppy downy post that way as the Soul is 27.2 and the BFe 31.6 - but it will make for a heavier bike (another compromise
).
Whichever you chose you'll not be going far wrong - superb handling bikes (IMHO of course
).