I was recently on the hunt for an AM hardtail and The Nimble 9 was on my shortlist as was the Nordest Bardino and the Pipedream Moxie. I also considered the Stanton Sherpa, Cotic Solaris, Chromag Rootdown, and Kona Honzo.
I wanted a 29er with 450mm seat tube or less (for a long dropper), a slack front (<66) for good descending, steep seat tube angle (>74.5 unsagged) for good climbing, a reach of 450mm or more, and longish travel.
The Honzo, Nimble 9, and Solaris are limited to 140mm which I could live with but the Sherpa was only 120mm max so that was out.
I would have to wait for the new Honzo's to arrive in Aus (and they do look sexy in that new green colour).
Chromag seat tube was too long.
Solaris seat angle is too slack.
The Nimble 9 seat tube angle is actually reasonably steep (what is shown on the website is the actual rather than effective), I email Chris Canfield and figured this out. By the time I decided to pull the trigger there weren't any large sizes left and the seat tube length is a bit long
The Nordest is almost there (even though the seat tube angle shown in the geo is with fork sagged) and it came down to that and the Moxie, both were about the same price delivered.
Ended up with the Moxie at 150mm travel (limit is 160mm) in 29er guise, it ticked the boxes and could get it here for just under $1200 delivered. .
The Moxie descends so well, that slack head angle (~65 at 150mm travel) gives you so much confidence. The seat tube angle is the steepest of the lot (~76 at 150mm travel) and it is great for climbing but has one drawback when riding level ground you do have more weight on your hands, not a deal breaker just something to get used to, there isn't much flat riding around here anyway.
Just noticed the new Stanton Switch9er, which is a sweet looking bike and if the published weights are correct quite a bit lighter than the Moxie.
The one thing you will notice is the length, the ROS 9 is not particularly long (reach) compared with newer AM hardtails, it is a good thing, I'm running a very short stem and the steering feels very direct, just point and it goes.
Happy hunting!