It’s interesting that Trek seems to be completely ignoring this category. While I think the supercaliber is a solid bike (and the xc pros seem to be doing just fine racing it), it’s certainly an anomaly to the down country trend for XC.
top fuel exists, which I think came out before any of these. Though I guess it’s pretty heavy in comparison. But it is a 120mm bike.
The old Too Fuel would have fit in
Yeah, it’s the closest thing Trek has, but even their most “xc-ish” build is ~2 lbs heavier than a lower end epic 8. And most of the builds are more trail oriented with a pike fork and pushing 30lbs.
Spur and Following but no Blur, Exie or Spark 
The ones you listed have been reviewed in other channels reviews.
I think this is a solid lineup, and actually good to see the Spur and Following.
I recently did a 100 mile MTB race that took 7:20 hours. I bet I was in full lockout for at least an hour or more of it. Basically, every time I was on a gravel/sand road and in every uphill to include the single track. There was a particularly steep, bumpy and rooted single track climb that full ridged felt rough though, so I’d always go into the middle (pedal mode) setting of my Scott Spark Twinloc.
That being said, the bike still has a bit of travel, probably 10-ish% in full lockout if it hits a big enough bump or if I’m standing in a sprint.
I tend to stand periodically anyways and I can’t stand the fork bobbing, it just feels like I’m wasting energy. I never used to lockout my MTB as much until I bought a gravel bike a couple years ago. Our local gravel races can get pretty rough in spots and the full rigid felt better and more powerful. IMHO for the local racing I do, full locked out is better and I’m not buying that I’m losing power versus an open fork. I’ve never tried it, but maybe I’d feel differently with a locked shock and an semi-open fork.
This is the internet - there’s no such thing as a “brief chat” 
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And apologies in advance - I have no valuable comments on remote lockouts, since I’ve never had one.
same. I hate how the bike looks with this birds nest in the cockpit. that’s why I got FA for my Epic 8. Problem solved.
Plenty of gravel where the front gets locked out too, or anything mild where I’m up out of the saddle climbing - definitely notice the difference there.
At the longer marathon events I’ve been doing, that’s actually a lot of time with the front locked.
With that said, I am interested in Flight Attendant. Not just to clean up cables, but because it’s much more real-time.
I removed the front cable from my remote lockout for this season, and haven’t missed it all.
This x100. I could probably live without lockout on smooth sections when seated, but I stand a bunch when climbing and even a little bobbing drives me nuts. And the lockout lever isn’t just to lock out, switching between open and pedal modes is pretty critical.
Recently got an epic 8, but no way I could justify the s-works with flight attendant. But I’ll add it at some point. I’ve seen multiple reviews where they disable the front lockout, but then you can override it manually. That sounds ideal to me, just use the manual mode for out of saddle climbing and let it do it’s thing otherwise.
Still getting used to the twist loc on the Epic coming from a spark RC, not loving it so far. And it’s just dumb that they don’t have barrel adjusters on the lockout cables. My shock wouldn’t fully lock when I got the bike, so I pulled the shock out and adjusted all slack out of the cable (very, very small amount, less than a MM). It worked for about 3 weeks and now it’s got some travel again. I’m going to pull it out again and swap out the cables to normal sized shift cable and install barrel adjusters. I checked out 3 Epic 8’s at a couple shops and none were adjusted properly with full lockout of the shock. When there is zero slack in the cable, it’s almost fully rigid. The smallest amount of slack and it allows a bit of travel. Cables stretch, so I’m not sure what they were thinking not providing a reasonable way to make adjustments.
I switched my Epic Evo to the Twistloc, the SL version on front and back.
The shock tab has broken now, so I don’t even have the ability to get out of open.
I do like the fact that if it breaks it actual goes to open instead of locked.
Hardtail with crown lockout. 
And I only lockout the fork on tarmac.
There are plenty of ways I can increase my speed before even considering a rear shock (not saying I wouldn’t go faster, I just can’t justify buying a new bike at this time).
I just debrained my 2021 fork with the race day 2 damper and twist loc. The twist loc (or maybe the damper?) came with a barell adjuster. I didn’t install it. Maybe I should have.
Good move! The Brain damper is heavy and very harsh.
Ace/Deuce Lockout – Hayes Bicycle? Might just be more of the same and it sure isn’t inexpensive.
Why did you all pick Nextie Alpha over Nextie Omega?
Nextie Omega NXT29VM36U (30mm internal 280g) rated at 110kg
Nextie Alpha NXT29VM35U (30mm internal 280g) rated at 100kg
I plan to build Omega NXT29VM36U rims with no spoke holes on rim bead with Erase Hook Flange Hubs and Berd spokes. Should come under 1100g
Isnt this a new omega rim?
The Alpha rim is using a traditional straight hook/lip wall design while the omega rim has a outward “flanged” wall. This rim design supposedly is stronger which they have been testing/verifying since '22 on downhill/super enduro wheelsets. They have now made the design into a low weight cross-country design newly released as “supreme edition” lineup of wheels. It in their opinion is the next generation of rim design in MTB’s.
Here is a picture of what the rim looks like
vs
If you have any other questions or potentially would like to order a wheelset, please send me a PM.