Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm in no hurry to get everything built, I'd rather save money and take my time. I actually enjoy looking for parts & finding deals on ebay.

I just placed my order with Peter for a 17.5 256SL, should be 25-30 days! 

Again, thanks for the advice, I will definitely need it!

Thanks for the welcome. You know, I really don't even know what my fork budget is right now. I literally decided yesterday afternoon that I wanted a MTB and emailed Peter, so I'm still trying to figure stuff out. I plan on spending a good part of my day at work putting together a build list, looking at other build lists on the site, etc... Is it fair to assume that if there's one thing I want to buy new (besides wear items like rings, cassette, chain, etc...), it should be the fork? I don't know much about servicing a fork, or how to tell if a used fork is in good condition.

Thanks guys! Yeah, I realize he's probably really busy, I just wanted to make sure I contacted him the right way. I saw that Alibaba link and wasn't sure if that was how all you guys contacted him.

I'm just now starting to put a build list together. I'm a roadie, and this will be my first MTB, so I'm just getting started learning all the components, trying to make smart decisions. I run SRAM on my road bike, so I'll probably lean that way. The big unknown is the fork, I have no idea where to start with that. But I've built 2 road bikes and a TT bike, so I have a pretty good idea of how everything goes together.

This seems like a great forum though, I'm glad I found it. I've already learned so much just reading through these threads!