Hey, I'm Solid Snake
 

Hi. A member of another forum I'm a member of posted a pic of his shiny new mtb which took me back to my HS days of when my cheap department store 10spd was my main transportation. A few years have passed and I'm a junior in college now. Now I'm looking for a bike $400-$500 that I can use for trails at night. As far as quality is concerned, will X amount of dollars buy a better full suspension or hardtail bike?

i would say You can get a better hardtail for the same money as a supended bike that may change if substantialy more suspended bikes are produced than hardtails. I.E economies of scale.

Welcome to the forums.

Agreed. You will find a much better ht than a dually. Also, under 1000$, most duallies are not even trail worthy and will not be warrantied when the break. 1000$ is kind of the invisible line before duallies become trail bikes or just weird commuters.

Welcome...and like Mael said below 1000 stick to a hardtail

Specialized Rockhopper... 'nuff said.

Before shocks, people were mountain biking some of the same trails we do now using mountain bikes with NO front or rear shocks. So as long as you're good, hardtail's no problemo, plus it's very efficient compared to some of the cheap softails which start at around 1g.

Hi solid snake. I'm registered at that same forum also, heh.

Cool :)