I had this bike a few years ago and liked it but for the frame material; so much so stripped it, dumped the frame, built up new 29er on a cr-mo frame of a similar geometry. But, nothing wrong with the bike at all, love the geo.

My trick for the brakes, loosen the master bolts holding the capiler assembly, squeeze the brake handle and hold while re-tightening the bolts. Alignment would fall perfectly into place for me. Also, after a few months I replaced the stock disc pads with performance pads, it was a nice a cheap upgrade.

As far as bike speed, mine came with Motorapters, a good mud, root, dirt tire. If you change to a hardpack tire like Nanoraptors you'll pick-up a few mphs for sure. I could get it to 25-30 on asphalt downgrades, cruise along at 15. Going smaller than you'd think on the frame was right on, you will not want a bigger size with this geo.