Nice. Why did you choose the 18″ frame? I might have read too much. Most opinions are 40/60 downsizing/ upsizing on a hardtail.
My Trek has a 455 reach and my Spectral 460. They feel different…. cause wheelsize/wb/ stack and headangle dont match.

Personally, I prefer 27.5 wheels, but the Switch9er also seems to do quite well in corners. I leaned towards the Switchback5 first, but I’ve never ridden a bike with a 415 chainstay before. Will it be very unstable at speed?
Quite hard to decide. I dont want to “waste” 2k….