Introductions - newbie all the way

currently looking for a mountain bike - having never owned one. Have did a lot of research over the past 2 months and bike ride tests as well as going to every bike in this entire city. I consider myself adventurous, never scared to try anything new, and someone with athletic ability. Currently I skate recreational, and outdoor race (have landrollers) but bikes are relatively new to me. I've narrowed some bike brands to Scott, GT, and Titus although it seems there are limited availability for size small and extra small full suspension or ht mountain. I was looking for any mountain bike not from a big box company but one not too pricey (since I'm breaking into this), less than 30 pounds (I'm about 80 pounds and short). It seems like most of the sellers here are pressed to sell me something, but I don't want to dish out money for something I don't feel good about. Of course the bikes I have absolutely loved are way beyond what I want to pay since this is my first so called bike.

Hi akascout, are you certain that you want a full suspension MTB? A really good FS will cost a fair chunk of change...would you be better of with a hardtail, perhaps?

Where are you located?


Welcome to BF!

East Hill

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I bought my bike from bikesdirect.com. I'm new to mountain biking but my fiance is a self proclaimed expert. He picked the bike (Haymaker 2000) based on the quality of the parts even though he had never heard of the company. The bike came partially assembled so I took it to a local place to have the rest done and they were impressed us to do some research and apparently the company is pretty big in Canada.

N.

http://badhuman.wordpress.com

I am open to any and all suggestions-I continue to be undecided but at least more interested in the hardtails. The more I learn, the more I consider less certain sales people since some are full suspension and some are hard tail but hard pressed on their belief in either. Now its just brands, cost, features, and trying not to go overboard because later I will spend more if I want but for now I want to focus on at least size for one. Another thing is that I really want to be able to go fast and not be only restricted to trails (mountain) but in regards to the latter - do want a bike that can take trails. Thanks for replying. I'm in San Antonio, TX

If you want to go really fast, and also take it off trails, you probably want to get a hardtail. A FS can be locked out, but it's going to cost considerably more.

Check out the regional forum for Texas!

East Hill