I purchased this bike as my first "proper" bike for general cross country and single track riding. I was originally going for a hard tail, but this bike was discounted so I went for this! (I've checked and the bike is still available at www.paulscycles.co.uk)
With 4" of travel front and back, supplied by the Manitou Splice Comp forks and the RockShox BAR 2.1, I have found it more then enough for my riding - I'm glad I did not go for anything with more travel as I still rate myself as a beginner (having not been on a bkie for 15 years) - anything more would hide my faults enough for me not to learn from my mistakes.
The Splice Comp allows you to vary the rebound to the extent of locking it completely which I have found useful, but as you have to lean down to turn the adjuster which is situated on the top of the right hand leg, I sometimes forget to turn it back and find myself going downhill without any damping! The BAR 2.1 is also the same in allowing you to vary the reboud adjustment.
Ride and handling are solid and the bike has shrugged off the odd crash with no problems. The Shimano Deore hydraulic brakes work well and give lots of control is these situations!.
The only slight problem I've had was the front derailleur in pushing the chain across to the big chainring, but managed to fix this after a bit of fiddling.
For the future, I'll probably upgrade the cranks to XT (being lighter and more smoother than the Shimano M440 fitted) and also the forks to 120mm travel. (The higher spec Fuel 90 has the RockShox Recon 351 U-Turn which is 85-130mm, so I know my frame can take the change)
All in all a good bike, especially if you can find it cheap as I did!
(I've updated this 30/12/06 after some more riding and a bit more experience!)
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Price
RRP £950 but managed to find it for £600
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