This bike is a hoot. Switched from FS w/no complaints and I'm selling the old ride. I ride a little more carefully w/this on the downhills, but I think I actually enjoy the overall experience more as I pick better lines and pay more attention. If you're enthusiastic about a workout (riding this above 11,500 will give you a good idea of your fitness) and want a bike that you can enjoy banging around on I think you'd be hard pressed to do better at the price. No problems w/sliding drops (they're really easy to deal with compared to my fixed gear and my Karate Monkey), other components are totally solid (if not flashy) and Jenson's been great w/customer service.

I feel like I have more pedal strike and marginally less BB clearance than previous Specialized FSR, which is sort of strange. Haven't bothered to measure it b/c it's only been an issue on rock gardens which I don't really seek out and so consequently don't care much about. Not really a weakness, but I'm going to throw some Avid BBs on soon, as it seems like the stock pads wore pretty quickly and I wouldn't mind a bit more stopping power.