I have just been the this, ended spending more than intended, as always, and go myself a Pivot Mach 5.7 after having a test ride. I assume you are looking at something around 1400 if yor looks at the bandit frame only. I also test rode it and really liked it, just a little too light for my intended use. I also looked at the nicolai helius and yeti 575 but wasn’t able to arrange any demos of these. After 2 rides I am loving the pivot but then coming off an ibis mojo it feels very similar except alloy.
EDIT: the bandit should be fine with a 150 fork but it might loose its speed on the ups. It did climb well. The guy where I demoed it said they had previously had it builtup with rockshox revelation xx
