Yeah, but my XC is pretty close to AM so I never got around to it. It's a nice, rugged bike, and my primary ride. I'd say the only thing not up to the AM style beatings is the fork, but it's 1" threadless and all I could find when I killed the old one was stupidly cheesy or really nice (but overly light) XC forks. They've held up really, really well for what they weigh, but I do find myself stressing huge drops and casing jumps with them. Marz. Corsa SL World Cup, or those same words in some other order.

Lately I picked up a commute with a real lot of mud & grime, and I've been digging the rigid SS thing for it's simplicity. I can put it away muddy 6 nights a week, clean it when I get to it and not worry about it. You're basically telling me what my short time of experimenting already told me though, it just isn't the bike for this stuff. I'll still play with it and see what I can do, but it seems like the answer might be if I see something cool on this, come back later with another bike. Not what I wanted to hear, but good to know I'm not the only one finding this stuff overly difficult on the big wheels. I bought this thing for snow & mud commuting, so if I have to concede that's really all it's good for and I have to grab another bike to get into the real fun stuff it's not a big deal. Worst case is as a result I'll ride my hardtail more, and this less. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks for your input.