😆

Has anybody advised the OP to decide what riding characteristics he wants from the bike before settling upon one? Or is that not the Singletrack way?

Scruff bought a Yeti 575 and couldn't get on with it at all because it wouldn't "pop" off the jumps like he wanted it to, so he went back to a Heckler which didn't soak up the miles the same, but was nice and lively when he wanted it to be.

Another mate of mine has got a Titus Motolite. He loves it for big rocky all-day rides in the mountains because it stops the trail beating him up. But for whizzing round the tight twisty stuff and having a 2 hour blast he chooses the Voodoo every time. However for 24 hr races he goes back to his short travel Rocky Mountain Carve because it behaves like a hardtail but with a bit more give.

You can afford to try quite a few £50 test rides to get the bike that suits you on that budget. Unless you prefer the idea of having a trophy bike, rather than riding it.

Edit – oops, Hicksville said "decide on the ride", and others too may have.

Thanks BigJohn.

I fully intend to decide on the bike that rides best, and will certainly not be buying anything I haven't demo'd first.

Forgot about Transition Covert that AJ has mentioned. That'd be nice, maybe overkill but that's for you to decide. WhatMTB tested one a couple of months ago and liked it.

Fair play to ya Stevious for stickin to your guns, Hardtails or cheaper bikes, wtf? +2 for Ricko's comments about the posts above.

Some good choices above & a lot of gash, like you I have some money (bonus) coming and have taken a look at the bikes available and really none of them really float my boat, so I'll be sticking with my c'dale for now…
But I would say stick with the 5" travel idea and ignore the 4 & 6" suggestions – found this to be the best of all worlds (having owned a 4, 5 & 6 inch travel FS), especially as your scotland based.

My suggestion would be to also consider the option available from Ventana, might be more difficult to obtain a test ride but take a look.
http://www.ventanausa.com/

Haven't time to read the whole thread, but the answer is a Blur LT2. It's my only only bike and perfect for long days, trail centres, or big Scottish stuff like Torridon etc. Pretty indestructible and a bit of a hooligan to ride

When I was looking at doing something similar I demoed a few bikes and then bought the one that brought the biggest smile to my face and that's what I suggest you do. I ended up with a RM slayer although it was the older version not the one that was previously posted. I bought the frame with the HotRod paint job and got it custom built. Nothing too flash but solid Hope/XT/Thompson stuff. It cost me between £3-3.5k, but I had the money and I don't regret the purchase for a minute.

Well I do actually regret getting Fox Vannila forks as they didn't last but that's an entirely different matter.

a bit of a hooligan to ride

If I do get one I might have to fit it with a backwards cap then. 🙂