I considered these bikes when I was shopping for a fully. Most of the reviews on MTBR were pretty good. Although most of the components aren't totally high end, a sub 22 lb xc bike is very tempting. You should consider the pain in the neck if something were to go wrong w/ the bike. As an example, I bought a SID world cup from my fav LBS. I'm on my third one. The longest I've gone w/o a bike because of the messed up fork is two days. My LBS took very good care of the problem, even though it was a Rock Shox issue and not theirs. I must add, the SID can be a sweet, sweet fork, but even with the 32mm stanchions, it is flexy. My advice on the fork is not to run a tire over 1.95 if you weigh over 155 lbs, the tire will rub the sides of the crown otherwise. I weighed around 160 when I was riding those SIDs. I'd suggest taking the SID off right away, sell it for what you can get and buy a REBA or a Fox.

Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but have you considered buying a new or used frame? My first couple bikes I had upgraded so many parts, I just moved them to the new frame.

In my search for a full suspension xc bike, I ended up w/ another Yeti I bought used. It was like $660 for the frame, fox f100, king headset, xt front derailleur, and seat post clamp. I bought a build kit(full sram x-9, it included wheels)and finished the bike for less than half retail. It weighs just under 27 lbs, and could easily be made lighter by swapping some stuff off my other Yeti. That said, if I'm not after something exotic, I definitely go to my local bike shop first. Besides, you can test ride those bikes.

I agree w/Mielke, it's not the bike, it's the rider. A light bike doesn't hurt though. Just sayin.

-HW