Avoid
1 - canondale
2 - any other seatpost but thomson
3 - hayes mechs or promax mechs
4 - under xt hubs, rapid rise sucks ass, flippy shifters do to. I tend to like after market rear hubs
5 - 9mm front axle forks
6 - Tioga wheels (owned 3 different kinds and they all blew)
7 - No love for truvativ bb's. I went through 3 before I trashed them in place of fsa

Loves
1 - wtb saddles
2 - thomson seatposts (there is no comparison)
3 - marzocchi forks
4 - Maxxis wheels
5 - ryno lites for trails, 321ds (or whatever they are) for freeriding/dh
6 - The new avids hydros are the best value brakes around
7 - anything by fsa makes me happy
8 - e13 chainguides

Thats the short list.