I rode the snot out of my Skookum this summer and loved it (to a point). It was a great bike for the first part of the summer when I was still getting in shape since the crank was set up with a 24 tooth chainring and with an 11-42 cassette in rear I could climb anything. As the summer progressed, I switched to riding my regular 29ers and it was great until about mid-July. We had a very dry summer so by the middle of the summer a lot of our singletrack had turned to moondust and rocks, and spots/sections of trail I could easily clean earlier in the summer became difficult with normal width tires. I went back to my Skookum with a massive footprint of a set of 45North tires, the Flowbeist up front and the Dunderbeist in rear. Both are 4.6" wide so plenty wide for the looser conditions. I actually rode some things I would have never attempted and had fun. And then the mechanical issues started. Several times while climbing my rear would stutter and a loud crack would be heard from my drivetrain. I thought I broke a chain. Nope. Then the rear hub seized up and I walked home. Our shope mechanic fiddled with it and the rear hub acted fine but two weeks later the same thing: rear hub completely seized up and so bad I had to remove my chain to get home. I called Fatback and they thought the rear axle may have been broken so they sent a new one. I asked my mechanic to take a look at the hub and he said my freewheel driver was cooked. The pawls had been completely broken off. I didn't think I was abusing my bike that bad. Thankfully Fatback sent a warranty replacement hub so hopefully this solves the issue. Otherwise, I love my Skookum bike.