sponging-machine had a 140mm fork on his trance too and he loved it.
i have pikes on my 125mm scott genius. Dunno what the frame weighs but whole bike (2005) was 29lb with pretty low end kit when i bought it. It is far more fun to ride with a bigger fork on and even climbs pretty well with the front at 140mm. Pivots are as easy as anything else to service/replace, only you are tied to Scott to get the shock serviced. I have ridden mine fairly foolishly since 2005 and it has been fine, only on 2nd set of pivot bearings.
And people can’t seem to shift them whenever they come up on classifieds so you might be able to get one cheeeeeeeeeap.
I have heard of people building and riding giant nrs’s in fairly warranty-busting ways (ie longer fork and 20-30% sag) and having much fun/little problems. There was one year where the chainstays snapped a lot but i’m sure that is easily researchable to avoid those ones.