Mountain Biking - Have 4.5 bikes. Need to build a nice one for myself and sell the rest. Your opinion?

Hey.
I don't mountain bike much but am looking to start. I collected several bikes from Garage Sales and would appreciate your opinion on how you would handle the situation. Here is what I have:

1)complete Specialized Rockhopper (good condition, 24 gear, manitou front shock, paid $90)
2)complete Gary Fisher bike (good condition, 27 gear, Rock Shox Pilot, paid $90)
3)complete proflex 855 (Ok condition, Rock Shox Indy, Rear Elastimer shock dried out, paid $25)
4)complete Cannondale (bad paint condition, 24 gear, got free from neighbor)
5)Rocky Mountain Frame (pictures here) (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/720360-Bought-this-Rocky-Mountain-frame-at-a-garage-sale-for-35.-Whats-it-worth)

I guess my goal is to end up with a good bike (doesn't have to be super fancy as I am still a beginner) while making the most I can selling the rest. I don't have much disposable income right now to buy parts which I don't already have. It would be nice if I can end up with the Rocky Mountain Frame. What would you do? I would assume the easiest thing to do would be to choose one of the bikes and take all the parts off and assemble them back onto the Rocky Mountain Frame, then sell the rest of the bikes as they are and sell the frame of the bike we stripped.

Here are the pics of the whole bike and you can click here (http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/bikes/mountain%20bike/?start=all)to see more detailed pictures of the individual parts.:

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/bikes/mountain%20bike/b9268e24.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/bikes/mountain%20bike/IMG_9252.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/bikes/mountain%20bike/IMG_9426.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/bikes/mountain%20bike/IMG_9439.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/master4g/IMG_0019.jpg

Pretty wide variety of sizes you got there. Figuring out which ones fit you would be the place to start. From there, figure out which components fit that frame, and of those, eliminate the ones in terrible condition or outdated technology, then pick the highest quality one of what you have left.

Use the Rocky mountain frame of course... grab the fork from the gary fischer (I think), use the best cranks, wheels, brakes and shifters from the others and sell the rest. Looks Like you have enough for a basic build to me. No worries. Make the Gary Fischer and the Specialized look as nice as possible and sell them for the most money. Use the money made on the sales to get any other parts you need or want.
Done.

What else are you looking for?

Sounds good. Side question: Which one do you think would be worth the most for the frame only? (besides the rocky mountain).

Also, Are mountain bike parts generally interchangeable? As in, do these forks, shifters etc fit on most frames? Is there a way I can check before disassembling anything.

Looked at the other post ad it seems like you have nearly all you need from the garage sale. I'd look over the Rockhopper and the Gary and see wich has the best parts and then complete the build, use all the stuff you got from the guy as it's good stuff.
you'll get little for the other bikes in frame only form. You want to sell complete bikes. Not sure why you dropped $225 on two garage sale bikes when you could have nearly finished the bike build with new components fro that much. Heck, sell the othe bikes for as much as you possibly can and use the money instead.

Sounds good. Both the Gary Fisher and the Specialized have nice parts as far as I can tell. I think the Gary fisher might be lighter so it wouldn't defeat the purpose of the light Rocky Mountain Frame (but I am not sure and will have to weigh both). This leads me to the next quesion, I don't mind the parts from either bike so it might make sense to strip the one which would sell for less. Which one do you guys think would sell for more? Any estimate on how much I should post it for?

Thank You.

How big is the rockhop? If you strip it down, ill make you a sure offer. (providing its the right size)

not sure how its measured, but it says "15" on the post where the seat post goes in. Just above the pictures on my original, I posted a link to detailed photos of the bikes.

Bummer, thats real small. Woulda been willing to give ya $100 shipped for it.

I would sell them all and buy a used complete bike. Bang for the buck that is likely your best bet. Deals are pretty good on ebay for 26" XC hardtails if that's what you're into. or sell everything but the rocky and build that up. Maybe use the components of the rockhopper or Gary Fisher.

That said those older elements got pretty mixed reviews re suspension performance. But I did know a guy who loved his, so hit or miss I guess.

I would sell them all and buy a used complete bike. Bang for the buck that is likely your best bet. Deals are pretty good on ebay for 26" XC hardtails if that's what you're into. or sell everything but the rocky and build that up. Maybe use the components of the rockhopper or Gary Fisher.

That said those older elements got pretty mixed reviews re suspension performance. But I did know a guy who loved his, so hit or miss I guess.

Yeah, we were thinking we would use the parts from the Rockhopper or Gary Fisher but I am unsure which one I should use. They both seem to have nice parts, but was wondering which one would sell for more (so I can use the other). Any ideas?

Pretty wide variety of sizes you got there. Figuring out which ones fit you would be the place to start. From there, figure out which components fit that frame, and of those, eliminate the ones in terrible condition or outdated technology, then pick the highest quality one of what you have left.

Gotta agree with this post!

Think you also need to establish a strategy. Normally people buy bikes because they want either the frame or the components. If the frame ain`t your size and you don`t want those particular components - why bother? Now you`ll be stuck trying to resell something and might be lucky to break even.

I have been out for some time so I haven't really done anything withe these bikes. I sold the Proflex for 200 and the Cannondale for 100, and now have the Gary Fisher and Specialized remaining. Of those two bikes which would you guys think is worth more as a whole bike? If one is worth considerably more than the other one, I would rather sell that one and use the parts from the other.
Thanks