I bought one for my GF's brother to strip parts for his race bike and the frame went to his dad. I rode the frame built up with x.9/xt and MX Comps (his dad's bike), felt very neutral, not that sporty. Never managed to ride the original build but it seems pretty light at around 11kg. Frame is not that light actually as it weights about 1800-1900g, looks good with all the hydroforming etc but isn't really light but is stiff. Wheels have butted spokes and spin really smooth, WCS rim decals look sweet. X.9/X.0 drivetrain just works as it should, instant response, smooth shifting. I run Shimano on my bikes but I was well impressed on the quality of shifting. Rest of the finishing kit is Ritchey Pro, older models had WCS, but still nothing to fault, pretty wide riser bars for a xc bike. Also RS Reba is a tried and tested fork, but the one supplied is without a poplock. They had to save money so You get a cheap cassette and chain and Formula hubs, which might not be that bad as I had some light Formula hubs long time ago and they held up pretty well.
If You're getting it on C2W than probably hard to get a better specced bike, it's good as a complete bike.
However if You're forking out £1k from Your pocket, than look for brand new ones on eBay. Very good donor bike if You have a better frame. I paid £700 for a brand new boxed one and the guy even delivered it for free.
CRC was doing Genius bikes with XT/SLX and Fox fork for under £1k.
You can also check Radon bikes (German brand). Still not as good VFM as Boardman.
