New Bike - Specialized Epic

I treated myself to a new bike (sort of by accident) for my birthday - won off eBay from some bloke in Manchester for something of a steal. It's the first full sus bike I've ever really wanted (quite liked the Lapierre Spicy/Zesty but not really for XC) - HT performance with the advantage of a rear shock for rougher bits. For me it seems ideal - I was also looking at the Whyte HTs, but these were £1500 upwards. I went for this particular one (it's a 2005 frame) as the guy had obviously looked after it and upgraded a lot of the components - it came with:

Hope mono mini/M4 brakes
Fox F100 RL forks (standard) and Fox + brain rear shock.
Race Face evolve XC xhainset
Crank Bros cobalt BB
XTR rear mech, LX front, XT shifters
Mavic rims on Hope hubs
Race Face Carbon seatpost, Hope/on one stem/headset and RF alu bars.

I have already switched the grips (ODI lock-on) and saddle (SDG Bel Air Ti) and modified the control layout as the previous owner seemed to have smaller hands. Shortly I will be taking the whole thing to bits and rebuilding it!

Truvativ Stylo EBB + Crankset (will probably upgrade to a Hope ceramic EBB once this one dies)
X-9 groupset with X-7 shifters
Flying snake shielded cables
Crank Bros Egg beater SLs
Might switch my newer mono mini set up onto this one
New Mavix XC717 rims on Hope hubs

I also splashed out on some new Fire XCs for it - thought about some Nobby Nic but Fire XCs are tried and tested around these parts.

Had two test rides so far - once around Clyne in the Mud (fun but probably not the best test bed - although predictably the LX front mech did stop shifting the minute it got damp - its going first!), and one up at Afan on the Wall on Saturday. First impressions - accelerates very quickly, lighter than my HT and handling is improved by the back end being stuck down more. My legs felt a lot fresher at the end too. At Afan on the descents it was positively scary it went so fast (and I tend to take it easy!) - confidence inspiring handling and the forks and shock suck up so much my arms and legs weren't nearly as sore. Still cocked up the rock garden in the Graveyard and stacked it on the zig zags near the bottom, but at the top of the zig zags it was mental.

Still not really tested it on a decent XC ride, but plenty of time. First impressions are good!!

Hardrock HT is being rebuilt with components switched from this as a fun/trails bike, hence why I'll probably put the M4 front on that bike!

We are now officially a 4-bike household!