Introductions - Newbie seeking help

Hey guys.

Me and my girlfriend are buying bikes for ourselves in the coming week so I did a quick search for a bike forum and found you guys.
Im sure i'll find the help here that im going to be needing. Thanks alot!:D

It's actually a great time to do this; you'll see a combination of last-year's clearance and some new items rolling in. Road, MTB or Cross? How often are you riding? Will you be riding at night? Is it recreational, training, Tri, etc.? That's just a few questions...

Here's a plug for a great bike shop right over in Bay Ridge Brooklyn that has some great deals:
http://www.bayridgebikes.com/

Another thing to consider is putting together your own customized builds; you can often piece together pretty amazing deals and wind up with a nice bike.

Hi EvolutionIXMR, stevesurf has asked the right questions about your plans, so I'll just wait for the response, and in the meantime say

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

This is an awesome forum :)

Welcome!

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
I turned my subscriptions setting on but I didn't get anything on this thread. Weird.

Anyway, I think i've already found the bike for me. I norrowed down my choices yesterday to a Trek 4300 & a '08 Specialized Hardrock Sport. I chose the Trek after finding countless positive reviews from users. It's in my price range(>$500) and sounds like a promising one. I've called my local bike shop and turns out that they have them in stock in a couple of sizes so I'll be picking one up tomorrow.

Again thank you guys for your help and you'll be seeing me alot around here from now on. This is the place to be.

Oh, my husband's got one of those! He likes it a lot, even though he only uses it on fairly mild firetrails :) .

East Hill

To answer your questions.

I'll be using it very often when the warm weather finally gets here(in NJ). I want to try and really get into mountain biking. At first I want to try easy trails, and then progress with experience. It'll also be used on some paved trails and road when Im out with my girlfriend riding together. So you could say that it will be used in a mixed way. But like I said, I want to start getting into trails and the offroad stuff with time. I don't think I'll be riding at night though.
Also Im 5'9 and about 160 lbs & athletic so I think the fork will suit me well. I heard from some taller heavier customers that they needed to upgrade it or something.
So whatcha think? Did I make a good choice for my first MTN bike? It seems like a good starter bike. Eventually when Im more experienced and better at it i'll opt for the "light" suspension bikes in the future.

My next mission is going to be finding a transport system.



It's actually a great time to do this; you'll see a combination of last-year's clearance and some new items rolling in. Road, MTB or Cross? How often are you riding? Will you be riding at night? Is it recreational, training, Tri, etc.? That's just a few questions...

Here's a plug for a great bike shop right over in Bay Ridge Brooklyn that has some great deals:
http://www.bayridgebikes.com/

Another thing to consider is putting together your own customized builds; you can often piece together pretty amazing deals and wind up with a nice bike.

I think you did well on your first choice. It will certainly allow you to determine whether or not you like MTB enough to continue :) .

East Hill