Do I really NEED a new bike?

A little more analytical answer.

What sticks out to me in your post is this: "Problem is, I keep catching myself thinking back to the 2014 Fuel EX9 I came from. Obviously shorter travel but a little snappier/playful and was overall a more intuitive "feeling" bike. History: I'm 60 (if you didn't know you couldn't tell) and consider myself a strong intermediate rider. I want to keep pushing my skills to the blue/black 💠 and black diamond trails but still really enjoy the longer down country rides. I've never owned a carbon bike."

I don't believe what you find lacking in your current bike is frame material, it is the purposeful design compromise that it has low antisquat, which helps with traction on technical climbs and also leads to a plusher bike on the downhills. Your current frame has about 80% antisquat versus the frames you mention are all at about 110% (this is for the 32/50 combo at sag, which is how most measure). The only current bikes I know that have antisquat values that low are Knolly, again a purposeful design, Noel believes in maximum traction and using a lockout.



When antisquat is under 100% as you pedal harder, the bike will suck into the travel (how much depends on how low the number is, 20 years ago bikes were at 0-40%). Over 100% it will want to extend as you pedal harder (again, how much depends on how high the number is). This is also affected by seatube angles. as you climb and the bike sags more, your weight shifts further back, leading to more sag, which on most frame designs also decreases the antisquat (most frames have antisquat dropping as you get further into the travel to limit pedal kickback). Steeper seat angles help offset some of this weight shift.

So what I see for your stated riding types and trails is not that you need or should get a shorter travel bike, but rather that you be looking at a bike in the same 140mm trailbike travel range that you have, but with more antisquat. The Ripmo and High Tower are probably the two leading bikes of balancing a snappy feel with good downhill performance that you don't need to go a million miles an hour to have fun. Cross the Transition Sentinel off your list in this group unless you want to run an angleset to steepen it up (my son has one, I ran an angleset to steepen it and fine, now without my son says you have to be going mach chicken to have it wake up and he is a DH racer). My nearly 50 year old self ended up with a Banshee Prime, as I like the longer chainstays, which combined with a bit taller headtube don't require you stay as far over the front of the bike and give you a large front to rear body positioning window. The tradeoff is longer stays don't feel as snappy, but climbing performance is just as good with similar antisquat numbers at the Ibis and Santa Cruz.

The world is your oyster and if you have the funds, I say go for it. I remind myself, I am not getting younger and since I can afford it, enjoy riding reasonably new bikes with good components. There is no need to get X01 or XTR, but I would consider getting upgraded wheels on whatever bike you purchase. Lighter wheels make a big different in how snappy a bike feels (says the guy that rides 2,000 gram wheels with 1,100-1,200 gram tires).