1st Mt Bike -> Felt FS850

Lasalles

Hi everyone ive just bought my first Mt Bike,a Felt FS 850.Ive done road and track cycling but after a long break i decided to try Mt Biking to get fit and have some fun.
Can anyone tell me how my Felt FS850 rates.Now i know its not a Cannondale or Trek or something fancy but at this stage i want to use it for some offroad fun with the view to possible XC racing at club level.
Heres the specs : Alloy 7000,with spinner grind 423susp forks, alivio shifters, alivio front der, deore rear der, shimano 8 speed, Magura levers, Magura Julie Discs.
The place told me it would be easier to upgrade gears etc than buy a bike with better gearing but no discs and upgrade the breaking to discs later.
What do you guys/girls think??? Any suggestions,ive ridden it once and it felt pretty good.
Thanks...

Ginzu

I am in the USA so I haven't heard of the fork, but Alivio and Deore is a minimum I'd use offraod-really I prefer Deore at a minimum. With those compnents I am surprised it comes with Julies-Julies are pretty nice compared to alivio components. Anyways. I don't what they're considering gearing and what he standard they would upgrade to. You could buy a bottom bracket, crankset, cassette, chain, r. deraileur, f. deraileur and shifters. Or Brakes, assuming the bike has the IS tabs for discs, you'll need wheels with disc hubs, and disc brakes and you can use vbrake levers if mechanical + cables and housing, or hydraulic disc brakes that include levers. If the shop means cheaper by "easier" it really depends on what they were considering upgrading. IF you wanted to upgrade to discs you could go mechanical, that would probably be easier, it requires no shop tools. A torx driver, allen keys, and cable cutter is about all you need. Avids and Hayes HMX1 or later are both good.