well, if he wanted wheels, and he owns a bicycle shop, can't he just go custom?
true on the breaking welds part, and they are so much more expensive.. ti spokes are very very yum though..
i've never owned a full suspension bicycle, and nowadays its all the rage, i found that it actually makes climbs easier because you can just bash up rocks and roots without really looking. But we're talking about DH huh, other than falling and breaking stuff, not that good at DH. xcountry though. =D