Just looking at building up a winter hardtail with same wheel size (27.5″) and fork travel (140mm) as my full suspension bikes. I recently had a demo on a Cotic Bfe which I found to be a great handling bike. Unfortunately there out of stock till december so was looking at other options. The Stanton Switchback looks a very capable bike but I have heard about the paint flaking off the frames. But more importantly, how does it compare to the Bfe .
Another option is the Stiff Morf. Seen them at Ard Rock but anybody out there given them a proper demo ? I’m after a fairly slack bike around the 66° head angle , and a budget of around £500- £600 for the frame. Any ideas !

Very happy indeed with my P7, which pretty much ticks your boxes. Lovely do-it-all hardtail and crazy fun on every kind of descent.

Think the paint issue was with the raw and translucent green switchbacks. The solid colour 1st gen and the new switchbacks should be fine. I’m loving my raw finish 1st gen switchback, and despite the dodgy paint job am finding way more capable than the Cotic soul it replaced.