I finished building this up this arvo... bought it for 60 bucks (which included an old Mongoose Wing elite) for the frame. Turfed pretty much everything off it except the rear shifter/brake unit (keeping this was a mistake) and the front derailleur. Built it up with whatever I had in the shed, plus bought a fancy suspension corrected rigid fork (it's a 29er, axle to crown slightly shorter than an 100mm Bomber EXR - less than 100 delivered for you other stingy bastards out there) cause the headtube is freaking massive and the only other fork that might fit is my 66VF2.
I need to upgrade the front shifter and rear wheel and brake but have nothing else in the shed which is suitable. There's a set of 4 pot XT M755 brakes in the shed which might be considered overkill and may end up on the big bike once I can source a rear hose (available on ebay but funds aren't permitting right now). I'd like to run gripshift but it's not easy to find reasonably priced stuff or upgrade the rear derailleur to something a bit nicer. It'd also be nice to have a 100mm fork to chuck on as needed for trail riding but it's not completely necessary, and finding 2nd hand anything in XL let alone 26x1 1/8 forks with a near 250mm steerer is like looking for hens teeth.
There's a dirt cheap 2000ish Giant NRS on marketplace ATM, with discs and 8spd gripshift which is very tempting as a donor bike for sorely needed upgrades but the significant other will not be impressed if I buy yet another crusty old 26er. Also if I buy it I'd probably end up keeping it, which would not go down well either...
Frame - XL GT Avalanche 2.0 26er
Rear shock -
Front shock/fork - rigid Bucklos something or other
Handlebars - something I found in the shed
Stem - ditto
Seatpost - whatever came with it
Front brake - BB5 with avid lever
Rear brake - V
Cranks - IXF
Pedals - VP
Front derailleur - shimano
Rear derailleur - Alivio
Front shifter - crap all in one shimano unit
Rear shifter - XT
Cassette - Shimano 9 spd
Rear wheel - qr rim brake job off an old giant
Front wheel - qr disc
Tyres - they say Kenda
Tubes - present
