Im on a 2005 hoss but conisdering I scrapped the fork, brakes, rotors, deraillers, shifters, wheels, and seat...here is my take...
The Alex wheels didnt hold up. they would come out of true every 20 miles or 3 rides. I bought some Sun Rhynolite XL's with XT hubs and have not trued in 200 miles riding the same trails as the Alex DM-24's
The stock fork didnt work for me in my parking lot test ride so I swapped it out for a Black with handlebar lock out...
Stock seat was pretty awful as well...replaced it with a specialized body geometry road bike seat with cromo rails.
The bike has held up to my abuse although it is now a very well equipped hardtail that I have roughly $1800 into. I was going over my bike today and I notice my cranks have some wobble...not sure if my splines on the BB are wasted or or the bearings or if I am obrounding the BB tube as I hammer this thing up hills and it sometimes talks back (I would too if some 300+lb animal was cranking on me with brute force)
I def recommend this bike but I think after I hit my goal mileage on this bike the frame will be tired and time for an upgrade.