elo all 
bit of advice, firstly i was into mtb’ing yeeeeeeeeeears ago, had a great saracen kili, xt/xtr throughout, loads of trick bits but stopped riding after gettin wed :-o
now, looking to get into it again, but starting from scratch, so looking at a cheaper bike to start with, and upto now have looked at a merlin malt 1, with deore, magura discs, ‘zochi forks etc, how good are these compared with the old rigid hardtails of yesteryear? on paper, the merlin looks fab vfm, and it seems to be a lot of bang for buck?
appreciate your replies, cheers guys 