I have the 2005 HKEK and honestly...I love it. I think it's probably one of the best handling bikes I've ever had. I don't know if it's due to the Genesis Geometry, or not.

I was in the same boat as you. I bought a bike to upgrade later. I have since upgraded everything but the seatpost, derailleurs, and shifters. I didn't upgrade all of these things because they "needed" it. I just wanted to, and found good deals.

My HKEK had the Rock Shox Pilot SL which had the motion control damper and lockout. It's basically the same thing as the Tora with smaller tubes. I think you will find the lockout sufficient as long as you set up the threshold properly. (easy to do) I changed it to a Fox Vanilla R 130 and dropped the travel down to 100mm where it belongs for this frame. I love it even more. I really never used the lockout anyway.

As far as necessary upgrades, the only one that I saw necessary was the crankset. I had some issue with my chain rubbing on my front derailleur cage due to crankset/BB flex. I solved this with a Shimano LX Hollowtech II crankset with integrated BB. I don't think they're using the same crankset this year, and if you're a lighter rider it won't matter. I was 213lbs, now 184lbs. I was crankin' the heck out of that Bontrager Select crankset.

Other than that, everything has performed very well and I have only upgraded parts because I found good deals on them...not because they have failed me.

I love the Fisher Geometry for my style of XC/All Mountain riding. I find it easier to pull the front of the bike up due to the shorter rear triangle. Descending is wonderful, as is climbing.

I used to own a Cannondale Super V 900 Comp that I modded the heck out of as well. (not for necessity either) I loved that bike and it held up to my torture just fine. I do say that I really don't like the Headshock design as much as I used to. As suspension technology progresses, needle bearings are more of a burden than a blessing. I threw a Fox Vanilla R on my HKEK and must say that I will never conciously choose to buy a bike with a headshock again. Single crown suspension forks have come a long way in the last few years. I used to say that I would never own a 'non-needle bearing' fork, but I have pulled a complete 180'. I had my headshock rebuilt twice in what I would consider a short period of time.

The paint and graphics have weathered well on both bikes. My choice would probably be the Fisher.