Yes, even though it has a little bit of out-dated geometry, It is still super stable on the descents and jumps really well! And I just picked up a new SLX/XT groupset for it.
Outdated is a weird concept to me. In a lot of ways, I think modern bikes are pushing the longer lower slacker idea too hard in the wrong places. There's still a massive amount of trails out there that many people, including myself, think previous generation slightly more upright and responsive geo is a huge positive. Pretty much the only thing I lament about my 5010 is I wish the head tube could go up to 67 degrees for more agility.
Bikes are starting to get into a similar culture as cars. Many people will take a 20/30 year old car and build it for a very specific purpose. Bikes are slowly getting into that. For many, a previous generation custom pieced bike is a better call than a current generation sender.
This isn't written in stone, but just saying. Again, love those things a ton.
Old bikes are awesome. We need them again, but with 27.5 instead of 26 and maybe lighter frames. I absolutely love my bottlerocket, super fun. Old bikes ftw
A couple years ago I ran my insurgent gen. 1 in the steeper setting with a 160mm fork and then switched it a 170mm fork. I then also switched it to the slack setting with the 170mm fork. Give or take a bit, this changed the HTA from about 65 to 64.5 to 63.5. It rode best in the steeper setting with the 170mm fork. Going really extreme into the slack territory made it subjectively worse: more pedal strikes, lazy handling, STA just too slack (it wasn't particularly steep to begin with). On the flip side, my ripley ls was about 67 with a 140mm fork and it never felt too steep. My current SB5.5 claims it is 66.5 and it also has never felt too steep. My new bike will be in the 65.5 range (pictures soon!) and I think that's going to be the sweet spot, especially when combined with a STA that is gaining 2-3 degrees vs. the yeti.
I really want to try a Norco Sight. 63.5 deg HTA for the 27.5 version. Very slack. I bet it rips when up to speed, but on slower and tighter stuff itll be a handful.
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