Mountain Biking - Looking for advice on a hardtail

Hello everyone. Recently I have decided to enter the world of mountain biking and would like some advice. I plan on doing mostly what you refer to as XC (Off road riding with smaller jumps and such). As of now a mid range hardtail is probably the best option for me. After that I have no idea what to get. If my price range is around $500 for a base model worthy of future upgrades, what would you suggest? Buying used is ok because I am very mechanically inclined and tearing the whole bike down and rebuilding would be no problem.


I love to tinker and tweak, which is what I WILL do with any bike I get my hands on. I am almost done with my very own CNC Router so custom parts possible ;)

Thanks in advance for any help you give me!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=54317
It's been covered every couple of weeks since I started here. Do a search like this one: http://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=270587

Buy a steel ol' school. 200 frame from lbs and build up. 200 modern parts bike used.
Brand new bb. Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shok and spend some money later if it's a keeper.)

sounds casual, my edge on it.

Or go Tr or Sp and forget about it.

Buy a steel ol' school. 200 frame from lbs and build up. 200 modern parts bike used.
Brand new bb. Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shok and spend some money later if it's a keeper.)

sounds casual, my edge on it.

Or go Tr or Sp and forget about it.

Not exactly sure what he just said, but definitely do a search, or go to your LBS and see what they say, they'll know the type of riding you're looking into and can help you a lot more since they're familiar with the area.

Buy a steel ol' school. 200 frame from lbs and build up. 200 modern parts bike used.
Brand new bb. Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shok and spend some money later if it's a keeper.)

sounds casual, my edge on it.

Or go Tr or Sp and forget about it.

Sorry, posted about 10 minutes before I passed out.

Translated:

Buy a high end steel older mtb frameworks. $200 say, from lbs and build up. $200 for modern parts bike used (poss damaged frame etc, just for good parts and you are SURE of compatibility.)
Brand new bb ( they wear and strip frameworks have no headset or bb.)
Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shock and then spend some money to upgrade- if the bike is performing to your liking and you want to advance its capabilities- a keeper.)

The way I build stuff, whatever. ;)

Or maybe just buy a Trek or Specialized for the $500 and forget about the fun and satisfaction you could have doing it yourself. Or have a nice bike thats O.K.> Like 1 in a million. My #

Ya bikes ARE cool.
Some of 'em. Build it if you want.

I would buy new or a complete used bike.

this way you can start riding today and tinker when stuff breaks down the road. nothing worse then having a bunch of parts you can't ride.....

Nothing worse? 50 miles from safe with a dead bike.

Buy a steel ol' school. 200 frame from lbs and build up. 200 modern parts bike used.
Brand new bb. Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shok and spend some money later if it's a keeper.)

sounds casual, my edge on it.

Or go Tr or Sp and forget about it.

I read that and figured there was some alcohol induced logic to it!

L8R

Buy a steel ol' school. 200 frame from lbs and build up. 200 modern parts bike used.
Brand new bb. Front suspension is altered to budget ( go with the parts bike shok and spend some money later if it's a keeper.)

sounds casual, my edge on it.

Or go Tr or Sp and forget about it.


Yeah, that sounded a little bit strange.

I am now thinking about getting a Specialized StumpJumper M4. Probably one of the 02 or 03 models.