Mountain Biking - a REAL Newbie

Hey Everyone!

My first time here and posting. :) I feel like an idiot for asking THE question that I am sure is asked a lot! First a little background. I live in Eastern Pa. and want to get into biking for enjoyment as well as a nice work out. I literally have trails starting out from my backyard and just learned there is a mountain bike association that care for the trails. So I think I am starting off pretty good.

Anyhoo, I am one of those who like to do a lot of research before making a sizable purchase. As far as finances, I am looking to get used for right now. Most likely in the $600~800 range. The very limited knowledge that I do have is that I can get a decent bike for that range. Now here is the fun part. Having the trails is bonus! But on occasion, I will want to do some hard top riding. At least I would like to.

Is there a certain style of bike to zero in on?
What are the top 3 or 4 companies that I should look at for my research?

I guess I will leave it to those two questions for now. Would love some feedback as to what else I should be looking for or where to begin.

Thanks and look forward to talking to some of ya!

William

Companies I would say:
Trek
Giant
Gary Fisher
Specialized
and kind of a lesser known brand with a strong following would be Kona

specialized
Trek
Kona

i'd go for any of those....all very nice bikes. i have a Specialized HardRock Sport.

Older Schwinn bikes, like the Moab, can be good deals if you like used. Replacement parts for them are expensive though, because a lot of it is proprietary. Don't get a new Schwinn, they've turned into Xmart bikes. I like Specialized a lot, I have an older Rockhopper that I'm happy with for most riding. Giant makes some decent bikes, IMO, in your price range. K2 and Iron Horse are pretty good also for the price.

Norco, Brodie also make fine machines. Popular west coast Canada.

Davinci, Jamis come to mind..

I would check out a Kona Cindercone... new its around $800 and pretty darn loaded for the money.

Giants make good off road bikes. There DH comp, team and AC range are great! ONly problem is that the price range is around the $1500 AU range (god, more currency confusion). It depends what sort of riding you want to do. If it is extreem off road, jumps, riding off off-road tracks or just sticking to the small dirt tracks.

Now i wouldn't know whether to say bother with dual-suspension or leave it to good Front fork. There is no point in getting Dual-Suspsension for a cheap price, and you need to look out for some companies who will rip you off. Then there are disk brakes, you would want a good size disk, say at least 10" and at least on your front wheel.

What i'm saying is that is all has to do with what riding your doing, how steep your going, what extreem tracks are you taking. Disks might be nessesary or just unessesary, look around at some bike shops and find one that suits you.

Find yourself a good local bike shop (LBS). As a newbie,you will need their help and service and it is much easier to get advice from a shop where you have purchased a bike.
Do you want to use the bike for any thing else other than trail riding? eg commuting/shopping/getting around town. cross-country style hardtail MTBs can be versatile machines, but life is much easier if they come equipped with threaded eyelets for rack and fenders.
Budget for helmet and gloves for safety. If you ride longer distances, cycling shorts. Clipless pedals can probably wait till you become more experienced at trail riding.

I would like to thank everyone for their replies. Much appreciated! At least I have a general idea of where to start looking. There seems to be so many choices in bikes, it can give you a brain cramp.

I dont know anybody elses opinion but I just got a '04 Haro Escape 8.1, and I think its a very nice bike for $660 no rear suspension but it rides very smooth and has discs. From what I can tell it is a very tough bike, and my favirote part of it is that it is very light.

http://www.geocities.com/mdwsr/

heres a site that has a bunch of links to manufacturer's sites and online shops.

I'd suggest in the price range you are in it's a HT ( front suspension only ) bikes you should be looking @.

The brake, fork and drive are things you should become somewhat familiar with to make an informed choice. Also you are not 'stuck' with what is on a showroom bike or what you purchase.
Most hard mtb'ers swap parts out, and also- you can sometimes talk an lbs to swap out say a an entry level fork with a little '$' incentive.

A big factor now is to decide what type of riding you wish to do and get an apropriate frame type and the right size.