eking7 wrote on 08/20/22 at 10:16am:
Pipedream Moxie Ti
Kingdom Vendetta X3 Ti
Sage FlowMotion TI
Leaning toward the Vendetta?
Those are all super nice, and the finish on the Sage is awesome. I would again suggest throwing a leg over something with similar geometry before spending that type of coin. Depending on your riding style and fitness/goals, 64 to 65 degree with the super steep top tube excels on steep and gnarly terrain, esp as an all mountain bike. Personally, I find the sweet spot for our trails to be around 67-67.5, as its far quicker steering and snappy. The slack head angle really comes alive at speed and on extended downhills... which we lack in our area. If you look at the marketing videos for the all.mtn hardtails, you may notice that the trails they are riding are steep, fast, and not nearly as rooty..roots...
But again comes to riding style. If you like social rides and aren't worried about average speeds than those might be the ticket. If you want to go far and fast, I find more sweet spot with the "modern" xc/"downcountry" geo like the Radimus. Just remember, you have an enduro, so trying to get the same geometry as that, but in a hardtail that's only going to be a few pounds lighter, will make you like the hardtail less (because it'll never be as good as the enduro downhill) and probably like the enduro less since it won't seem to pedal quite as well as the hardtail... if your bikes are too similar with a ton of overlap it just makes you think "did I bring the wrong bike" on every trail...
In my experience, as long as the cockpit setup is similar, and def suggest keeping the same brake levers between bikes, then you can quickly acclimate to each bike. Keeping the same wheel size is another way to help acclimate, but the difference between larger 27.5 (2.8s or so) and 29x2.3/2.4 isn't that drastic.
Anyway, no judgement, get whatever you want. But I've been through dozens of bikes over the last 20 years and "refined" my opinions through experience (read, spending money on bikes and learning the hard way).
Just on a social ride and chat up the guys on similar geometry bikes that you're looking at, and see if you can throw a leg over for a mile or two...might save you a few grand...