bennyridesbikes

i'm 6'7, i weigh 200 pounds. if you have trouble imagining that, i'm pretty scrawny. i can thank a 7th grade skiing accident for that, i have no duodenum. look that up if you want, i won't go into detail here.

here's the situation.... i haven't been a mountain biker for a long time. not since i was a teenager. hey, let's play blame daddy and say it's his fault. he "bought" me a front shock for my trek 7200, but put the new shock on his FS trek y11 and gave me whatever it was that came on that thing 12 years ago.

it pissed me off.

but now, i'm looking to get back into mountain biking. i've done my best to read all the stickies and make sure i'm not asking stupid repetitive questions, but this one still remains...

what do i do about test riding? nothing is big enough for me. i'm looking to spend between $1k and $2k on a hardtail 29er. preferably closer to $1k since i'm a brokeass service industry kid and i'll mostly be riding trails around chicago area, but my brother wants to plan something for moab in the not so distant future...

so tall riders, help me out. how did you find your ride? what should i look out for?

i don't know what to do about mountain bikes. i ride a bike for a living (and i'm very thankful of that), but it's all road and i've found a couple old nishikis which are 67's center to top and feel lucky to have two of em. but i'd really like to get back on the trail, and i can't afford anything custom...

help please!