Mountain Biking - Downhill/freeride noobie needing help

Hey everyone.

first off, Hi my names Nick im 16y/o and live in Spain and i want to get started with downhill/freeride.

Im on a rather tight budget at the moment since im not working.

i can afford about 300€ (aprox. 400$ / £270) max:(

and was wondering what the best bike i can get for that kind of money.

I was looking on the Tesco and Argos website and came up with these.

Lamborghini Toro 26" Dual Suspension bike £240
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-1288.aspx

Lamborghini Diablo 26" Front Suspension Bike £240
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-6692.aspx

Exodus Vault 26'' Dual Suspension Bike £274
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-5737.aspx

Silverfox 26in Slither Dual £244
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3322039/c_1/1|category_root|Sports%2Band%2Bleisure|12108128/c_2/2|cat_12108128|Bikes%2Band%2Bcycling|12108201/c_3/3|cat_12108201|Dual%2Bsuspension%2Bcycles|12108222.htm

Muddyfox Vice Front Suspension. £200
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3321724/c_1/1|category_root|Sports%2Band%2Bleisure|12108128/c_2/2|cat_12108128|Bikes%2Band%2Bcycling|12108201/c_3/3|cat_12108201|Front%2Bsuspension%2Bcycles|12108224.htm

if you could please just take 5 mins to look at those, im also open to any surgestions.

the Silverfox 26in Slither Dual looks pretty sweet and is my favourite so far.

thanks.

That place has a great deal on finance:
BUY NOW, PAY 6 Months LATER when you buy with
the Argos Card. Typical 27.9% APR variable.

:rolleyes:

NONE of the above choices are suitable, unfortunately (and I say this as a person who started racing downhill on the most questionable of bikes).

At least Muddyfox is a brand name bike on your continent; but the Celcius would be much more suited and in your price range.

http://www.muddyfox.com/celcius_2007.html

Expect to get a durable hardtail at what you want to spend rather than a crappy full-suspension.

WOW thanks dminor! thats a sweet bike!

Im familiar with muddyfox because my dad has a really old one lol. I didnt think they make bikes no more haha.

front suspension only is fine for downhill right??

Front only will be a fine way to start. If you find you really like it and start to get faster/go bigger, then you may want to move to full suspension in the future.

i click buy now and it says bike currently unavailable :(

and none of the ones on amazon send to spain.

anyway.... i´ll get my hands on it one way or another.

thanks for all your help, see you around on the forum :D

sorry for double posting.

I was wondering what a good length travel would be for starting out on?, alot of the hardtrail bikes on the muddyfox website have 3 inch/70mm , 60mm travel.

would those be ok? or should i stick to buying the Celcius with 100mm?

i at least wana leave the ground without snaping my wrists in half on the landing.

You are better off with the Celsius; it's most suited for what you want to do with it in your budget.