Again, thanks for feeding me more information! It does have a sticker saying 6061 Aluminum (I think... it's 6xxx but can't remember the x's right now). I also wrote to GT (who have an awesome customer service dept, by the way) who replied:

"The top/head tube butting and 2-bolt derailleur hanger give it away as a 1995 model, but the Zaskar LE, Zaskar and Avalanche all had Competition Series decals on the seatstays. Unfortunately, all three were available in a ball-burnished finish, so we can't be any more specific than that."

I checked jeff's catalog link - cool link, by the way - but the '95 catalog didn't show an Avalanche, only the Zaskar, so I wasn't able to compare side by side.

Regarding the forks, there is indeed a damping adjustment dial on the top. Thanks for the link to seals, and all the info, Bike_13! I'll talk to Rockshox and see if they can help me with bushings, but I've heard that they won't have anything to do with pre-2001 units...

Anyway, thanks all for the help, it's much appreciated. Just added some SRAM gripshifters, plus LX levers and v-brakes (wish I'd read about Avid before I bought!) as well as my old clipless pedals, so I'm stoked to go for a ride this weekend.

velcro