I loved mine but the drive side dropout cracked which is not uncommon

I liked my 2017 segment, but didn’t love it.

The dropouts cracked. Replaced under warranty.

I found the crack when cleaning the frame up to sell. I sold it as I could never get the shock quite right. It’s a super short shock 165*36mm. It was either plushish and bottoming multiple times per ride or harsh and bottoming out a couple of times per ride.

I’m 92kg give or take some pies. The harshest treatment it got was a couple of days at bike park Wales on red trails.

I sold it and bought a geometron G13 which has been much better. I partially put that down to the 190*50mm shock. I think the longer shock stroke makes it easier to tune. The current stage Evo has a 195*45mm shock.

The G13 geometry is better for me. I’m still on the geometron 7 years on and still super happy. There was an xl G13 frame for £500 on Facebook a while back. I would wait for a geometron to come up in the right size and price. The G13 takes a 140mm fork and are 130mm travel at the back. The right size of you like the segment length reach would be several sizes down from the segment. Large segment to small G13?

The stage bikes seem less prone to cracking.

I’d say have a look for a Stage 4 and put a -2deg headset in it.

Should be from when they’d got on top of the cracking issue and it’s just a brilliant fun short-travel bike that can muck about in the woods or do big, long rides.