Hi I have been every square cm on the frame & also cleaned the bottom where the number should be & there is definitely 100% no frame number the chap I got it from told me there’s no number & he was told when he got it that it might be a proto type & I also scratched a tiny bit of red paint off top tube & there’s no yellow & it has the original decals & everything on it so I don’t know what to do other than to take it to a giant retailer
There are upgrades & modifications to it prior to me owning the bike
hm, are you sure about the year 1996?
To me this rather looks like 98-99-ish Giant,
like this one https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/DrChaos,31673/setup,26600
the Fox suspension fork and damper are rather optimized for XC and from 2002 or younger, also if IS disc mounts are used it's not before 2002.
Decent frame, but as said, 99/2000 era. Even as a prototype, it's not much earlier due to the factory disc mount.
It's a shame most of the original components have been replaced.