SandwichEater, I bought one in June this year. Prior to this bike I had a Cotic Soul hard tail. My riding is Enduro/Xcountry/Passport du Soleil type stuff where I live in the French Alps. I went for this bike for a couple of reasons….
1. I’m 95kg and liked the idea of the plus wheels
2. Liked the idea that I could put 29er wheels for XC races if I wanted
3. My ideal bike was the Trek Stash which is DOUBLE the price (in carbon)
4. Liked the idea of buying a Brit brand.
5. I wanted a hard tail that could go do technical Enduro and XC
So, the important question is what did I think. In a nutshell, I am super happy and am having a total blast on it. I was worried about the +plus tyres because of the weight, but this is more than countered by the confidence the tyre has given me when going down AND the insane grip when climbing. On my local XC trails in Chamonix my rear wheel would spin out on the Cotic on certain sections. With the plus tyres, I am now climbing like the proverbial mtn goat, all be it a fat old one! So climbing and descending have been great fun and this bike has handled it all (despite my reservations about having a carbon frames mtnb.
I also love the Chainstay being out of the way, especially as its a carbon frame. This is a big plus point.
Just in case you are also new (Like me) to the 1×11 gearing, its fantastic. really works well. The other bit of kit I can now no longer do without is the dropper post. My nephew convinced me to get one, and boy oh boy was he right.
If you get one, can I recommend you get asap some clear protection strips for the frame. I picked up some chips pretty quickly. If you are after a do it all bike, get this cheap version of the Stash.
Skidmark