Cyproz

Ok hi, im new here and i am 19 years old. back before i had my license, me and my best friend rode our bikes everywhere. They werent anything fancy, probably just walmart or sports authority mountainbikes. We would ride them everywhere and over anything. We would ride them on the street and then cut through a woods trail and then through grass. Anyways im looking to get back into riding around my neighborhood and stuff just for some excersice. I was thinking of spending like 200-250 and get a fullsuspension bike like a mongoose or huffy, idk what are good these days. So what/where do you guys reccomend. I have a helmet and other saftey stuff already. O btw im 6' 3" and probably 240 lbs, i live in jacksonville, Fl which is mostly streets and sidewalks but they are unkempt and have lots of bumps thats why i want full suspension.

digibud

I would recommend saving up a bit more money if you possibly can. If you go to your lbs (local bike store...not a big "box" store...a small specialty bike store) you can get good advice (hopefully) about entry level bikes that you can enjoy for years. Small bumps on pavement won't do much to trigger suspensions if you're just riding on streets, and you can't get a decent full suspension bike (new) for your price range. If 200-250 is your limit, look seriously at a used bike. You can get a decent 4 or 5 year old bike for that price that will be MUCH better than a new huffy-type department store bike. I'd look for a friend who is knowledgeable with regard to bikes and get some hands-on assistance.

nymtber

If you want to have a mountain bike, Look on craigslist, you can probably find a few year old GOOD mountain bike (specialized, Trek, Gary fisher, etc) in your price range. I know when I was younger, I would not have wanted skinny tires...Even riding on pavement, I would jump any curb I could find, as I used to mountain bike back then and any obstacle was good practice These days I mostly only ride flat ground.

You could also look for an early-mid 90's fully rigid mountain bike. They will handle road and light offroad just fine. And they have no suspension to have to upkeep!

edit: I just checked out the Jacksonville, FL Craigslist, there are TONS of older rigid mountain bikes for UNDER $200. Granted you will need a large frame, there are plenty to pick through from what I saw in the first 20 listings