A couple of answers for you in no particular order.
My current full squish (Evil Following MB) climbs better than my hard tail on 90% of the terrain I ride. Anything that isn't smooth, and the FS does better. Lots of rocky, rooty and rutted technical climbs where the FS does much better because it is so much better at maintaining tread contact. Set the suspension up correctly and I doubt you'd miss your HT on anything but the smoothest climbs.
I have never used the lockout, even on the street or smooth fire roads. However, my XC racing buddies use remote lockouts and both swear by them.
Carbonda shows 150 g difference for the SL in size M. I doubt you'll get 200 on an XL and even if you did, you could probably save more weight spending that money elsewhere.
This bike will shock you with how much better it feels going down than the typical XC HT. The geometry gives it so much stability. It's not an enduro, but drop the seat and point it down and have fun.
Thanks a lot for your input! Just as i thought it would be. Anyway, I'll stick to the lockout for asphalt roads and finish line sprints
It will alredy help a lot if i feel confident to try on my "i dont dare"-Passages. I think that's what i can expect from this bike. If it shocks me, i'll be ok with that.
Only tight corners might remain a problem, but one can't have everything.
In conclusion, i guess i will wait for my 300 h overwork to be payed at the end of the year and convert that into a new bike
Until then, i'll think about a nice color to have the frame painted. I remember some some candy red anywhere in this thread...
Finally, you won't hit 11 kg with a dropper unless you have lots of really lite parts already, friends who will sell you really lite parts on the cheap or you spend a bunch of money. Limited budget and lite weight don't really go together.
Limited budget is a relative term
I thought about 3500€ (~4150 USD) and if it gets 200 bucks more, that's no big deal.
Also keep in mind that i don't think about a mini-enduro to do huge bikepark airtimes. So there's no need for bulletproof-style components.
With SID/SIDluxe, 1400 g wheelset based on chiner rims, Sram GX groupset, Shimano XT Brakes, OneUp Seatpost and Stuff like Handlebar, Saddle and Pedals coming from AliExpress, my spreatsheed says 3600 € and 10900 g at this point. Even with tubeless milk. Only thing that's missing by now is the shifting cables.
So i think it's not impossible - and i don't cry if the result is 11.1 kg.
Currently i wonder if Gripshift & Twistloc will fit with current Shimano brakes... i saw some Pics that don't look too well. Looks like trial & error, i guess.
