Mattme1

Hi, this is my dire question. What bike should I get? I am a six foot tall man, 150 IB and 15 years old. My parents have given me the task of finding a new bike and I have been struggling to figure the websites out. My budget is near or under $200 and want something that will suit me for a while. I had a mountain bike but now I would just prefer a front suspension fork only. I don't bike that much, and it will mostly be paved with a few trails. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance for any input.

-Matt

no1mad 

Moved from Forum Suggestions & User Assistance.

TenSpeedV2

Post up your local Craigslist and I am sure that you will get some help with some bikes. At that price range, stay away from big box stores like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Those are absolute garbage and won't last you.

jefnvk

What kind of riding are you realistically doing? Front suspension is pointless on paved or well maintained dirt trails.

obed7

In that price range avoid any suspension, it will be useless and just add weight.

Maelochs

For $200 you have two choices: junk, and used.

Lucky for you, you should be able to find some used rigid-framed MTBs (Large frame, or 21-inch, I'd imagine .... or 58-60 cm, depending on how the frames are measured) which should meet your needs.

What you might really want would be a cyclocross bike, but for $200 you might be shopping for a long, long time. Your best bet might be a rigid MTB, or something like this: Nashbar Flat Bar Road Bike which should be fine for light trail work and great for pavement.

obed7 is absolutely right: cheap suspension is a pure liability---it weighs a lot and does next to nothing except break. Unless you are paying more for the fork than you7 plan to pay for the whole bike, you are going to get overweight, underfunctioning junk.

Also ... how much do you plan to ride off-road, and when you say "trails" do you mean fairly smooth packed-earth trails, or rutted, muddy, rocky, root-ripped mountain bike paths---because the latter will chew up and spit out any cheap "hybrid" in about two rides ... you will be walking home with a broken bike and glad you don't have to ride it the rest of the way.

If you only plan to ride fairly smooth packed-earth or shallow gravel trails, then any road bike should do fine---one capable of slightly wider tires would help, but you shouldn't need specialized machinery.

In any case---you will need to bering someone who knows bikes, if you don't,. and shop around for either a rigid MTB or an old road bike in good shape. Either should last you a long time, though you might have to replace tired and tubes pretty quickly, depending on how much the old ones were ridden and how long they have sat, and you might need to replace cables (same reason.)

I have an '83 Cannondale and an '84 Raleigh road bike, and if I hadn't tried jousting with a car I'd also have an '86 Bridgestone MB4----so you can buy a bike and ride it for decades. However, if you buy a bike with suspension ... you can't. Shocks wear out or blow out, suspension bushings wear out ... if you want a cheap, reliable bike keep it simple.

NYMXer

OP, you are not going to find anything decent brand new at that price level, but you might find a good used hybrid on Craigslist.
Another option, do something to earn a few extra dollars and then look on the Bikes Direct web page. For under $400, you will find many entry level bikes to chose from.
You could also stop by your local bike shop and tell them what you can spend on a bike, you never know.... they might have a bike for you.
Good luck shopping.

joejack951

I got this Nashbar AT2 Mountain Bike for $221 shipped recently during a sale. I bought it for my nephew who sounds about identical to you other than being 6'1". I bought him the 21" bike and it fits him quite well. It isn't anything special but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for mostly paved surfaces and some light trail use.