Awesome help guys! Thank you all so much! I will be using all these posts to decide what bike is best for me at this point. I will most likely go used (probably going to start perusing craigslist in a week or so). Definitely going to get the mountain bike and use it as a commuter. Not worried about the chain situation. I will probably drop my budget a little bit for this first one so I can minimize any buyer's remorse that is on it's way. Then bike #2 will be when I spend big.

I will be keeping the the suspension info that gsa103 talked about in mind. I also will be going through the posts that talk about the proper height of the bike for me (I'm 5'8"). You guys have really helped me out through all of this!

Haha I may reply to this thread down the road with my purchase.


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Ah I thought of another question! Should I care if my mtb has rear suspension? I have used bikes like that in the past and found them quite nice on the bumpy trails.