2 years on mine still love it
Its very stable on the descents, long reach,slackish ha, wide bars, tiny stem makes it very confidence inspiring going down, I’ve ridden stuff I thought I’d only ever attempting dh bike(in fact I sold my dh bike soon after getting my 153 as it was redundant)
Short and very very stiff back end, keeps it very manoeuvrable and loves railing berms and jumping- loads of air!
I’ve raced ukges, trips to Wales, Scotland, megavalanche + plenty of laps of woburn, swnley, Surrey hills, push ups at Aston, uplifts etc
Its been ridden and raced through all kinds of filthy weather, the push fit bb lasted a year and bearings needed changing after 18months
Downsides,
Its not the lightest bike, but light bicycle carbon wheels, on one carbon bars, better cassette etc and its down at 14kg with meaty tyres and a spec I’ll happily ride all day in the Alps or cwmcarn or glentress
Climbing is fine, I did use the lockout at first, but ended up with a custom tuned dhx via Avalanche its made quite a difference, definitely a sit and spin, i run mine 11-40 with a 32 ring and i get up everything, steep seat angle helps
Mud clearance at the back limits you to a 2.3 if its very messy tho a 2.4 fits just fine
A front fender helps stop mud build up between the rockers and seat stays
I liked the SRAM gearing at first but the stiff back end contributed to the x7 rear mech having so much play it was gohst shifting all over the place and I kept having to tighten the clutch or itd throw the chhain (zee was much better)
Something about the suspension means that the chain can be lost on rough descents, even 1x with a narrow wide, a shimano rear mech and upper chainguide are required
The super solid rear end is quite wide so tape up the stays nor you’ll get some heel rub
I swapped the shimano brakes for hopes as I prefer the feel, stock wtb rims were very good, nice and wide, but not a fan of shimano hubs
Over all its a great bike, very tough, lots of fun, can’t see myself replacing it any time soon
