Mountain Biking - Looking for a bike

I'm new to mountain biking and am looking for a bike. Seems like there are too many choices out there. I am considering a Trek 6500, but was hoping some of you more experianced folks out there might have some advice or reccommendations. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

I think as long as you stick with a well known brand you won't go to far wrong and also buy a bike with as much shimano on as possible inc things like bottom brackets and rear hubs usually own brand components like these fail pretty quickly.
Stick with shimano as much as poss and you won't go far wrong...

basically,,, how much are you willing to spend???

and what type of riding do you plan on doing

I recently bought a condo in Waterville Valley, N.H. and found that they have a pretty good trail system. My riding will be largely recreational but I do like to push the envelope just a bit, so I guess I don't really need a lot of bells and whistles but definetely something dependable. I'm guessing that I might be able to do that for around $500.00 to $700.00. What do you think?

Originally posted by bartcook
I recently bought a condo in Waterville Valley, N.H. and found that they have a pretty good trail system. My riding will be largely recreational but I do like to push the envelope just a bit, so I guess I don't really need a lot of bells and whistles but definetely something dependable. I'm guessing that I might be able to do that for around $500.00 to $700.00. What do you think?

You should be fine on that sort of budget - in terms of quality I don't think ther's much to choose between the big makes - Trek, Giant, Specialized etc. all produce decent bikes at that price - sure components won't be top of the range but they should be reliable enough, and you can always upgrade bits if they wear out. Whether you go for SRAM or Shimano shifting is really a matter of preference.

The most important thing is fit - try as many as you can from an lbs you're happy dealing with.