Advise me a new fork.

Hi All,
I've been lurking here a while on suggestion of a MTB'er buddy of mine. Here's the thing, I've recently begun to get back into a bit of mountain biking. Apart from a few trails here and there the last time I was regularly MTB'ing there was no suspension and epic and MAD were only young fella's with flyers in shop windows (no interweb).

So anyway, I've decided to start doing off road more regularly, I'm planning on doing the Lough Derg thingy in April and the commuter hack simply won't do. I've built a few bikes in the past so I've decided to build a bike to use just for mountain biking. Starting with a Stump jumper frame with Mavic X117 on shimano hubs.

My question for you guys is what sort of a fork should I go for?
Travel ? Steerer size? I'm guessing it's 1 1/8" and lastly what's the story with the 200mm bolt through business? How does that work?

If its for XC style of riding then 100mm is your only man.. Fox & Rockshox are the forks to choose from.. Stay away from Marzocchi, Manitou, Magura, DT Swiss etc.. unless you want to be different and have a headache when it comes to servicing them..

Steerer diameter depends on your frame.. 90% of the time it'll be 1 1/8".. but it could be 1.5"... sometimes tapered - 1 1/8" at the top and 1.5" at the bottom... check your frame for compatibility first..

200mm..?? I think you mean 20mm.. its just a big oversized axle to increase stiffness / decrease flex at the front end.. if its XC your after then 20mm is probably overkill.. go for standard Qr or 15mm.. again, you need to check your wheels for compatibility first before you do anything..

Stump jumpers have 140mm rear travel right?
Get a fox 32 140rl or similar for the front.
The talas version has adjustable travel 140-120-100.
Also rock shocks pikes are nice and have adjustable travel

Stumpjumpers have no rear travel and have been mainly using 90mm on the front.

Stumpjumper FSR travel (front & rear) has varied:
2008/9 - 120mm & 120mm
2010 - 140mm-100mm adjustable (130mm on comp model) & 140mm
2011 - 140mm & 140mm for the most.