Brian, I am interested in knowing if you would outfit a bike with this much weight for either recreational or competitive biking?

I am a recreational rider and I know that the application is sound. But seriously, the bulk alone would bother me. Perhaps in the Elite bike racing world where annual contracts for riders are huge, maybe, maybe not. Most XC rigs are built was light as possible. I'm surprised that Nino Shurter is racing a HT in the UCI worldcup. Seems to be doing well with it.