I am looking at getting a long travel hardtail, i have looked at norco (no recent good models),orange (too expensive) and thats it realy.
i have looked at the other long travel hard tail thread and the bikes on there are mainly dj bikes the others are out of my pricerange of £800 or old and which no ones sells new ones any more.
Orange Crush! I've just obught one, the 08 models are reducde to £800 now. Perfect i think, meets all your requirements and no immediate upgrades needed at all!