So let's say you're a rider who wants a bike for urban assault and a general fun bike to play around on. Probably no HUGE drops or big hits at the present time, but possibly in the near future. My only limitation is really my level of confidence at this point. I used to ride lots of technical stuff, but the addition of clipless pedals to my XC riding style has made me lack confidence after some real nasty crashes from being clipped in. Obviously I'll be running flat pedals, seeing as how strangely enough I can hop higher with flat pedals than I can with clips, and have more confidence in riding skinnies and drops since I can bail easy. I have the skills and experience, I just need to get back to the confidence level I was once at.


So really what my question is.... is should I stick with a hardtail? I'm a light weight guy, so lifting a lot of weight of the ground is really an issue to me. But then again I love the feel of a full squishy on those hard drops to flat. I also would like to get into wheel hops and some trials type stuff as well. The light weight would really help with me hopping up on benches, stairs, that kind of thing.. so I'm sorta leaning towards the hardtail. Pedaling efficiency isn't really much of an issue at all.. what's important is that it takes a beating and won't break all the time. Ideally I'd like to purchase just the frame, but I honestly don't want to spend 2 grand on a frame... I'm getting my own place pretty soon so I'd like to keep it fairly inexpensive. Online retailers are always a plus. Also, is the Shiver SC a good fork? Jenson has one on closeout for like 375.. it's a single crown inverted style fork. Most of all it looks beefy and pretty good lookin

So any advice for a college freerider on a budget? I want to build the bike myself, so I really just need some frame recommendations. Less than 1000 bucks would be ideal.