130mm travel forks, biggest brake i can get (and most reliable) and a wheel to match the forks, plus a tyre

thats what needs replacing when insurance money comes through (week or two)
help me make my bike hard s f**k!

Here's me getting all excited oin your behalf, thinking about hwat a fabuluous front end you caould get
with

all

that

actually, in terms of it, it's not tht much now is it? Although my whole bike cost only slightly more, good forks (350) plus hope disk brake (180 - the DH one witha 185 mm rotor) already breaks 500.

Marzocchi Z1 MCR - £270
XT Disc on Mavic 321 - £67.50
Hope E4 205mm - £130
which leaves you with 32.50 to get a tyre and tube of your choice. I recommend a FireXC Pro 2.1 for all-round riding (£22 + £5-ish for a tube, leaving you with about a fiver for beer) or something fatter and more downhill-oriented, which will cost you more (especially if you want downhill tubes).

Those prices were from Chain Reaction by the way, but their site seems to have gone down now. The fork is an '01. If you want a bit more travel, you could get an '01 Jr T from Merlin for £5 less.

right, I've been scouring my mates webpage, and can come up with these things.
2000 Mr T's 130mm travel, QR20 for £325,
2000 Jr T's 130mm travel BETD brace £195
or Stratos MX6's for £335

he's doing formula evo 9.5 brakes at £100 each
and the only wheels I can find are a pair of Bulbs on D321 for £165, but I'm sure he'll split them for you.

I'm pretty positive if you talk to him nicely (his name is Paul Birley) he'll be able to do you a deal for £500. all the things I've mentioned are used but in excellent condition, are serviced and come with the statutory 6 mnth warranty.

www.backontrack.co.uk for more info
hope this helps, and if you catch the shytes ensure they 'trip over' a few times before taking them to the cops.

oh yeah, he can get hopes for you if you like

Z1 MCR £270
hope ti-glide disc on 321 £82.50
or on 521 for £70
hope E4 185mm (you know you want to) £140
and i'll swap you a used tioga 2.1 or a 2.3 nokian fat hakka DH (same size as tioga 2.1) with 1 week of use (theres still the hairy bits on the side!!) for that shifter and rim. and you can buy an fsa pig for £15 from anywhere.

or

2000 jr t £230 (can you stiil get them that cheap?
hope ti-glide disc on 321 £82.50
or on 521 for £70
hope mini 185mm (you know you want to) £120
then for the good stuff!!!
blackspire 3" arch £35
nokian gazzalodi 3.00" 32.50
then a dh tube £6
and an fsa pig £15

if you go for the 321 it'll go i bit over £500 but i'm sure i'll buy some stuff from you in the next few weeks.

god i love spending other peoples money!

or you could get a shiver SC and a 20mm front hub.

whats so special with z1mcr's over z1 drop offs?

i suppose the brakes got to be hope enduro or the hayes one (too expensive?), clim8 6pot still hasn't come out?
i've already got a d521 silver rim for the front, is it worth buying a hub and spokes and building it up myself? my last build is still perfect and that was on a joytech hub!

qr20 would be handy, how many marzocchi single crown forks are there qr20? and in my price range.
otherwie a z1drop off might s well do?

You can get Gazzaloddi's for £10, and Nokian tube's for £2.50

www.xpedia.co.uk

MCRs are 5", drop-offs are 4" IIRC. The QR20 version is £70 more (from chain reaction, anyway). There aren't that many QR20 single-crown forks - the Z1 is the best (except for the Shiver SC, obviously).
If you know how to build wheels, you may as well buy a hub and do it yourself.
The E4 is definitely the best disc brake in your price range.

And what's the point in QR20 anyway? It only saves carrying one allen key! You still have to do the clamp bolts.

right, the hope enduo is definitely the brake to get.

fork and hub-wise i've been looking at the dirtjump 1. heavy compression, stanchions as my jnr t's, steerer as the freeride. eed to get a 20mm hub for it. only seen the diatech at £50, its the freehubs that are crap on diatechs. any other hubs that do 20mm? all the hope ones are in qr or 20mm, right?
z1 drop offs as a last resort (have to change the springs for my weight!)

20mm hubs for you sir.

DT oynx
diatech
ddg
planet x goliath
hopes

theres probably more, but i can't be arsed to find them.

ddg price seems to infer non-disc, its listed as less than the ddg disc qr hub.
theres the one from the company doing goldec products, draco or something,planet x goliath is silly price if its what it says in consumer reviews. whats the difference between hope bulb and big un?
are they in 36 hole drilling or only 32? my rims are 36 hole (save some money there, have to get a spoke out and measure)

i wonder if stiffening the fork up by going 20mm axle will result in me breaking everything on one of my superbly bad landings.
like york millenium bridge when i forget to pull up and jump the last steps and just smash into the tarmac front wheel first? probably how i bent my rear axle!! (didn't mke my rims twang though!