Posted by: RAHrider
I hate to disagree but I do. The Slayer has a 2cm shorter top tube and it has a slight slacker seat tube. As far as I can tell, it is a four bar linkage, which is fairly efficient but certainly not something that will make 165mm of travel climb like a goat. The reason I was suggesting the evil is because it climbs as well as most other 150mm travel bikes do but is known to descend like a bigger bike. I'm not saying the evil is the answer to his needs but I have been very happy with mine and thought I'd offer it as a suggestion.
It seems like we are on a similar page here. I'm under no illusion that a bike like the Slayer will be a fast climbing machine, just that it climbs better than most bikes with 165mm of travel. If the Evil climbs just like other bikes with 150mm of travel, then both of them should be quite close in climbing performance. Staying in that kind of long-travel, decend-biased 27" bike category, there are tons of awesome bikes which might all be great for the OP, but he has set his sight on the Slayer and i can't fault him for that.
But seeing that he loves his E29 and just wants a bit more confidence in the steeps, i stand by my recommendation of trying out an angleset and long dropper. If that still doesn't work out there will always be a Slayer (or similar) waiting in clearance sales at the end of the season.