RatedZ

I posted this in another forum, but I'm not having any luck with getting help. I figure I'll try here.

I'm just getting back into biking after 22 years of not being on a bike, and I want to continue where I left off; riding some dirt trails with roots and jumping those 3-foot high dirt ramps over 6-foot long pits, but that's not all I want to do.

We have a new bike trail leading out of our neighborhood that just opened up, so I want to be able to just leisurely ride along the street also. Most of my riding will probably be done here, but for those times when I'm looking to get a little bit crazy, I need a bike that's going to be dependable (see paragraph 2).

I've received 20 answers from 20 people at bicycle shops. Some people say a GT Avalanche 1.0 will work for me, while others are saying a Cannondale F5 would do the trick. I Emailed Cannondale and they told me the F5 will not handle this type of abuse and that the F5 is a "light mountain bike."

I know nothing about mountain biking. I've been away from bikes for 22 years. I have no clue what "heavy mountain biking" is, "light mountain biking is," what a "light" mountain bike is, etc. All I know is that I want to have a little bit of fun off-road when the time comes, have a bike that I can depend on, and a bike that costs no more than about $700.

Being a GT fan, since that's what I know, and that's what was dependable for me when I was 14 years old, I'm heavily leaning towards a GT bike. After giving it a little bit of thought, I am willing to look elsewhere than GT.

Should I be looking into something closer to a BMX-style bike, such as the GT Ruckus?