I have a Giant 29er mountain bike that needs some rebuilding. So I'm just going to strip it all down to the bare frame & start fresh with better parts. I plan to use this mountain bike as my daily commuter bike. I already got some street tires I plan to use to replace the stock knobby MTB tires with to make riding on paved roads easier.

Closer inspection of the components like hubs brakes shifting components etc. reveals they could be of better quality. The rear hub free body is loose (possibly internal damage) Before I planned the rebuild there was a ton of miles put on the bike. After reading the bad experiences people have with stock Shimano stuff I decided to go on a hunt for a possible Shimano alternative for my parts.

So could anyone recommend a good non Shimano brand for quality parts for shifting components, brakes etc? If there are quality Shimano parts I may not be aware of please inform me about them.