ill second the reba for sure, but those new fox step casts are crazy light and they have some entry level ones that are pretty reasonable.  Have heard anything on maintenance intervals yet though.

I have a chiner CF road bike from I cant remember who, with a seatmast, and cant remember the model number, but it has lasted over 6 years of hard abuse which has included hard racing miles as well as adventures gone south that ended up on trails and chunky fire roads.  I also built up an 057 last winter with carbon rims from carbon speed for the xc race season and it has held up like a champ to some pretty weird situations and still going strong.  I dont see replacing either one in the near future, and they have already outlasted many various components and groupsets.

there is no way that all came from just slamming on the front brakes, that looks like you hit something from the deflection on the right fork leg near the crown.

I have 760 mm on the ht right now, have 780's on the trail bike.  Both with 50mm stem

years ago I used to ride a cannondale scalpel and a giant xtc with a 100 mm stem and narrowish flat bars as was very common then.  But then after switching to a shorter stem, wider bars, and a slightly longer TT to maintain the correct position, I tried riding the same setup again and it feels like completely unrideable.  Since the bike still maintains a decently steep head angle, to don't sacrifice a lot of slow speed agility, and you gain a lot of high speed stability.  If you ever have the chance I would definitely recommend trying the setup sometime (wider bars, shorter stem) and then try going back again and see what you think.

on the 256 frames that have cracked, has it been on that seatstay union area where they tie together before it connects to the seatpost?

Sorry, I guess I miswrote that, I have a devinci Wilson for dh racing, a true dh race bike.  I just was using that as an example that although this will be purely for xc riding, the bike may be getting a little more gusto on the descents than a typical walking lung of an xc racer may be putting it thru!

pic*

Just finished my build up last night, most parts will stay as-is, but some were just what I had on hand to get the thing rideable.  I got the frame and wheels from Peter right after he left I-Play and had barely named the other company but pulled the trigger anyway.  I have previously built up a no-name carbon road bike as well and it has held up fantastically to some pretty awful race conditions.  On the 057 frame, I went with this option since I race downhill as well so I ride a little harder than most, and the 256 just looked to not have that much material on the seatstays.  But the internal cable routing for the front derailer looks very tempting to run a stealth cable dropper post, so I may upgrade to that later.  During the build, all of the cables pulled thru nicely with the guides that came in it, although they are not really needed since the lines are all sleeved for the full length anyways.  everything lined up nicely and fit properly.  The spec is like this-
057 frame
the larger width hookless 29er wheels with novatech hubs (forgot the model #)
xt rear mech with shadow plus
xt cassette 10-spd
slx cranks with raceface wide narrow ring
Avid juicy ultimate brakes
Bottle cages from speed carbon
reba RL fork
Thomson 50mm stem
race face sixc carbon bars
extra mech hangers- because you know, smashing into things

well then I certainly agree with you, sorry for jumping the gun there.

I wouldn't say that he hosed you, since building a frame from the ground up would typically be something you would undertake after having a pretty well rounded understanding of different bike standards.  Not trying to bust your chops, I just don't think it would be quite fair to blame it on the seller though since you did not buy the post from him to go with the frame (making an assumption on that one).  Just a lesson to learn for your next build!