I understand. I had a little more relaxed approach. The bike could work as bought with just thorough repairs. It would have gotten my wife to have something to compare against her existing ride. So the pressure was mostly off.
And, this ain't my first rodeo ... I have been tweaking bikes for a while. More-so lately as I attempt to make task specific bikes like MTB -> Trail Cruiser, assembling an eBike from a kit, etc. But I have been tweaking stuff for years.
That meant I could come at it as repair only, or figure out a list of upgrades. And I already know from repeated experiences that loosing a low-rent spring fork in lieu of a quality air fork will net me at least a 2 lb drop in overall weight and make the front end much more lively, that was a no brainer.
Took about a week to find a good candidate fork on eBay. They come up all the time as real MTB'ers move from 100mm to 120 or 150 with remote lock-out control. It really is the golden age to get a good 100mm air fork with manual lock-out (if desired) for less than $200
My best one so far was a Manitou R-Seven Elite with an included head set (bearings & races) and lock-out for $150 with hardly any signs of use. That fork weighs 1605 grams. There are Cro-Mo rigid forks that weigh only 200 grams less.
I almost can't stop myself from dreaming up another project
