Originally Posted by Liberis

Thanks for the very detailed and informative post!

I am currently a college student, but I do work over summer, so I wouldn't be able to volunteer/work at an LBS/co-op (unless it was weekends). However, when I was younger, I used to do a lot of tinkering with my Walmart bikes (they broke a lot), so I'm pretty comfortable working on them, and I am not afraid to teach myself what I need to know (there are plenty of resources available online). I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't locking myself out of any potential future upgrades by going with the Dawes Haymaker 1200.

From your post, it sounds like I shouldn't have any issues, but developing a good relationship with my LBS/co-op is a good idea. I'm fairly certain my university has a mountain biking club, so I'm going to have to look into this.

Thanks again! I think I'm going to go ahead and get the Dawes Haymaker 1200, and we'll see where I go from there.