more sizing information
Now that I'm a proud owner, I wanted to contribute my experience with sizing so that others who search the interwebs might find some insight:
My measurements: I'm barely under 5'10" but my wingspan is about 6'2" so reach is definitely more of a factor than stack for me.
I picked up the Large R+ from an Erik's in St Cloud, MN and I was surprised to find that I actually felt CRAMPED initially. Once I got it home, I took some measurements of my previous bike (2009 Gary Fisher Superfly SS, Large). On the Superfly, with a 75mm stem and 25mm offset seatpost, the total cockpit length is roughly 57 cm. On the large Chameleon, which had a 50mm stem stock, and with the seatpost slammed all the way back on the zero offset stock Race Face seatpost, the cockpit length was ~54 cm. No surprise I felt a little cramped. My plan is to double check saddle setback from the BB and add length at the stem if I need to. I don't think I'll need to get a setback seatpost but we'll see. Seems like most droppers are zero setback with the exception of the 9point8 Fall Line, so if I go the dropper route, it's either the Fall Line (standard or offset) or the Thomson Covert dropper (which has a 5 mm offset).
Other thoughts:
-NX shifting is pretty darn good for entry level. The shifter itself does seem a little cheap since it's a lot of plastic, and it's kind of a bummer that it isn't Matchmaker-compatible. GX shifters are pretty cheap, though, so I may swap it out for that in order to use Matchmaker clamps.
-The Level T brakes seem fine. I read somewhere that the SRAM brake with DirectLink have less space between the rotor and the pads than SRAM SwingLink or Shimano brakes (generally) and that seems to ring true. My SLX brakes on my old bike definitely have more space around the rotor, so we'll see if I swap those out or not. If so, Problem Solvers makes the MisMatch 1.1 adapter so I could still run a single clamp for brakes/shifters.
-The wheels are probably boat anchors, but I'm pretty happy with them so far. It's a nice touch that it came with the tubeless kit (Erik's no longer sets bikes up tubeless on the sales floor), and the tubeless setup was a breeze with a floor pump. We'll see how low I can go pressure-wise, but the setup process has me optimistic for a very solid tubeless performance. Also, the tubes I took out were 300 GRAMS EACH! So I saved over a pound by going tubeless.
-On the topic of weight, this bike is a little beefy. After the tubeless conversion and with a pair of Syzr pedals on it, my scale put it at ~29.4 pounds. That's about 9 pounds heavier than the rigid carbon SS 29er I'm coming from, but having gears on the climbs and front suspension on the DH will make up for it.
-Suspension-wise, I'm fairly inexperienced, having run rigid 29ers for the past 8-9 years, so fork feedback is within that context. The Fox Rhythm is definitely super smooth and I'm very happy to have a Fox fork for the $2K price (definitely a reason I considered this bike over others). The compression damper control level is on the top of the right stanchion and while it's not a true lockout, it certainly firms up fork action plenty for extended climbs or long fireroad/paved sections.
-Saddle seems fine. I'm used to firmer road saddles, so the WTB Race Volt is fairly soft in comparison. Still, I have no complaints on that choice as I've had good luck with WTB saddles in the past.
-I didn't see this mentioned anywhere, but the stock Race Face bars/stem are 35.0 clamp diameter, so keep that in mind if you're looking to make any part swaps.
-No complaints on the crankset either. My neighbor was jealous of the external BB. I would change the stock 175mm arms for 170s but that's my personal preference.
I haven't had a proper first ride yet since local trails were closed yesterday due to rain, so this evening I'll be breaking it in right. Hopefully my very positive first impressions stick around after some dirt time!