Best Beginner Bike Is Here
 

Look on CL and Ebay. Your looking for late 90's steel frame with Rock Shox Indy fork and 7/8 spd Grip Shifters.
Under $300 easy.
My reasoning.
1. Steel frames of the day had some give to them. This means a smoother ride. Not to heavy. Brand name???? Who cares.
2. Indy fork is dead simple and takes the edge of the trail. Take the caps off, grease and go. Simple
3. Grip shifters are dead simple. Twist and they shift. Most even had gear #'s on them.
The only new things you should have to buy is a chain, tubes and tires for your terrain/area.
Saddles depend on your butt. You have to try a bunch yourself.Find a shop that has a saddle seat that you can try right there in the store. Most shops have these things.
Check Park Tools site and Youtube for maintenance. Gain experience here. Real quick on chains. Cross Country Wet lube okay.
Check tires every ride. Play with the pressure to see what works best for you and where your riding.
Water. Drink plenty of it while your riding.
Sunscreen. Go back to youtube. Find sunscreen song. Play it and believe it.
Have fun and don't take yourself to serious. Don't forget to try and find different ways of getting off your bike (fall).

I've been riding mine for 11 years and enjoy every 3/4 hour ride. Colorado is a nice place for a mountain bike ride by the way.

What exactly is the point to this little story? Don't we answer this question on a daily basis regardless?

Yeah, like when everybody posts "I need a bike, what should I get???":bang:

Well, Indy forks are crap, may as well go rigid. Grip sh*tters is what I call 'em. YMMV. :D

But why do you only ride 45 minutes at a time?

Ahhhhhh, thank you, Magmol . . . You answered the question nobody should ever ask you.

Wow great timing. I just joined after lurking for a week and a topic like this would be really helpful and reduce on repetitive and annoying posts by noobs.

Keep the advice coming! I know this is just Magmol's advice, but I'm a sponge at this point and hearing feedback from experienced users is very helpful. :thumb:

or you can buy last years model of trek 4300, specialized rockhopper, ive even seen a Gary fisher piranha for around 350.

get newer tech. newer parts... if from a lbs, you should get proper service.......

This would be really helpful if it were true. No way in crap would I give this advice to a noob. A noob doesn't know if the drivetrain is shot and wouldn't know how to replace it if it were. A noob wouldn't know where to look for stress fractures. A noob needs to go out and buy a bike that won't frustrate them to the point that they'll quit biking.

Just trying to give people an option to a lbs. With all the walk you through it help you can get on the Intranet now days why not learn to do yourself**********??
Lbs steered me wrong 18 years ago. Just saying hey educate yourself. Buy old, have fun, gain experience, buy new next year. Nothing wrong with that.

I've been bike commuting for 18 years. Seriuosly loving mountain biking since I moved here to Colorado.
Just trying to share.

This is a proactive post. Putting information out for question askers to seek out first. Problem is peoples mouths and typing hand are faster than there cognitive skills.

I did my 4 hour ride on the Front Range Trail yesterday. From Colorado springs to Palmer Lake and back. Great ride that proved a point. I had seen many a bike as I have described above in the original post, including mine. Smiling face on all that I had crossed.

Sounds like fun. My wife's uncle lives up 'round CO Spr...if I come that direction, I may be PM'ing you.

Or it could just do the opposite and encourage them to pick up a few bike books and learn to work on thier bikes. A quick stop to google will give info on spotting bad frames i even found some articles with pictures. Just because sombody is a noob doesnt mean that cant become educated in a hurry.

I look at things like this kind of like buying that old car and fixing it up , although the bike would be tons cheaper .

Good points indeed.

I've been so dependent on the internet I didn't even think about picking up any books. I think visiting the bookstore/library and learning to work the bike is a fantastic idea. I'll have to do that this weekend when I have some free time.

"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information." – Michael Scott, The Office

I wasn't convinced until I read it a second time and saw that the grip shifters have numbers on them. I'm getting my 10 year old bike tomorrow!!

P.S. OP - Have you really been holding a grudge against LBS's for 18 years?

Seriously? I had an Indy and it flexed like crazy and the stiction was so bad it would only react on the downside of any trail feature. An old Judy (before they started to suck) or a rigid fork would serve the purpose much better. IMO