Yes brother, thanks...a Rogue for a Rogue !! lol.

 Yes, it's the next one up going from 6.5in of travel of the Moment to 6/7 or 8in rear travel on the Rogue via a DHX 5.0. Bigger welds/stronger sections and beefed up on the stress/landing points. Used for downhill and mainly freeride, I may try and borderline it without triple clamp Boxxers or Shivers, and run Fox Talas r 160mm for a lighter more responsive front end, but if he set it at 180mm rear, this is the tricky bit? I may have to use a -1* headset reducer, or...tighten the spring slightly on the rear, or slightly more + on the pre pedal, so less bob and more control, with slightly less sag due to my 20st weight. I guess this is the bit you would know more being an engineer? Can I get away with 160mm front end, and use more damping or tighter on the coil spring without affecting geometry? There is another model above this one....the Dare, but I had so many mixed reports over it's weakness and prone to flex and cracks, but every frame has a weak spot? I had a Rogue before, I'll use it as a hardcore playbike up Cwmcarn, keeping the 29er as my main ride.

 Okidoke... Right 180mm rear. Well you could go for a pair of Marz 55CR's as with the rear travel its just as important to have the crown to axle height set correct. Marz are renowned for having a longer crown to axle length, so a 170 fork would be more like a 180 rockshox or fox fork, that could save you some weight. Headset reducers are a pain to align, i personally prefer offset shock bushings (machined a set for my bike). I'd rely on the pro pedal more for stiffness than tightening the spring (just because its easier to undo when your ripping a decent). What lbs spring are you using? Bear in mind Fox's calculator tends to be an over estimate... I run a 550lb rear spring on my CCDB and it supports my chunk plenty easy enough, & i'm fatter than you!!

In conclusion, look for light (air spring) or a decent set of oil damped forks with around 170mm, but be careful to compare the axle to crown height as this varies quite a bit between brands, the effect being a longer length will feel that its 'sitting up more' in the travel, when infact its using the same travel but the fork itself is slightly longer.

Weld wise, fatter isnt always better, its more important to look at the edge between the weld and the base material, if there is a sharp contrast it will be more prone to crack, where as a flatter (flusher) weld bead even if smaller will still (probably) be stronger than a fat globule of weld... In summary weld failures occur more often due to geometric effects (such as weld bead geometry) rather than "quality of weld" from a material/chemistry point of view.

Check out my new build!

 Cheers for the insight and lesson on welds bro. I may stay with these forks? I rang Fox UK Mojo, they said I can just about get away with this set-up...maybe offset bushes in the future? See how she rides first? Anyone down your way got a 135x12 maxle ?

 It will be my 2nd bro, my ex missus screamed so loud i hardly went out on it, so now i'm single, let's start to mingle, and have a blast properly !!

 yep one of my "want bikes" for sure

 aahaaaaah Thats wicked!