The sole in the pedal area of my forward foot was gone in under a week on my 6.0's -- same story with my friend's... I'm sticking to my 5.10s. Strangely only the forward foot... guess I use it more in spins.

Nope, I only dealt with my LBS. I brought it into the shop about 30minutes after I broke it (literally walked from the trail to the shop with the bike on my shoulder). I would point out the location of the break. When a weld gets too hot it can weaken the metal around it—causing defects such as this. The welds should be stronger than the metal alone, and therefore you shouldn’t get breaks right on the welds like that. On another note, that part of the rear triangle on that side of the bike is no bigger than what is found on a stumpjumper. I wish they would add a bit more beef there.