A lot of great advise here, but I'll add one more thought here. I would caution against the thought of upgrading the shocks/fork later. Good shocks and forks will cost more then the bike itself. You might consider using this bike to see if you like the mountain bike experience, then upgrading to a higher end bike. As with drive train, it is almost always less expensive to buy a bike with the good fork/shock on it, then to upgrade later.