I've got a few rides in.  The bike is, as expected, berry berry nice.

I've had a couple of instances where the front wheel loses grip.  Of course, I'm pushing to go faster, so that is to be expected to some extent.  Still, I find the best technique is to turn the bars less than I did on my Trek and use more lean to go through turns.  There is a spot in the steering where the tire will suddenly break traction going through the pebbles on hardpack trails I frequent.   

On like my third ride out, I hit a soft spot on the side of the trail while zipping along.  All of a sudden, I was g-o-i-n-g  dooooowwwwnnnnn --> whoomp.  Ding Dang if I hadn't broken my right hand/rear shifter.  I have a habit of breaking shifters on new bikes.  Back at the trailhead, I found my friendly LBS bike guy who set me up with the T-bike.  Next day a new shifter was on and T-bike (I gotta get a better bike name) was back in the dirt.

On paper, the geometry specs are comparable to my old bike.  I'm going to try some different tires and work on my skills before saying anything blameful to the bike.

Going over, down and up the bumpy stuff is pure fun. 

When I specced the bike (medium with an "All Mountain II" build kit)  I was expecting it to weigh in a bit under 25lbs.  With eggbeater pedals, it tips the scale at 28 lbs 2 oz.  Not shabby for a 100mm full sus, but I was hoping for a bit less.  Then again, it's a lot easier, cheaper, and better for me to shed 3 lbs. than to fret over the bike weight.

The bike is plenty trick and blingy.  Even so, I'm already looking for ways to increase blingness.

The DT wheelset is light and certainly nice, but it is for tubes.  The first obvious place to look for a change out would be a nice tubeless set.  That has me thinking about wheel accoutrement like these items from Chis King Bling:




Match those up with some color coordinated spoke nipples and Bling-Zam!

CK used to make turquoise, but that is no longer an option.  So, the question is "Blue or Gold"?