Hardtails rule? Critique my options...

Have you seen the Hardtail Party review on the Ragley frames? He did both steel and alu, think he preferred the alu.

but he still gave the BigWig a very good review too

I hadn't seen the review. The Big Wig looks a lovely frame - that lollipop paint job is lush - and good geometry, but I've decided its a bit too conservative for me compared to my other bikes (I'm spoiled by ridiculous LLS with my G16 and Nicolai).

Highly likely this thread will result in the end of me owning my alu-framed Norco HT 🙂