I am brand new to mountain bikes.
Went to test ride a couple, Gary Fisher Cobia 29er, $900.
Specialized Rockhopper 29er, $900.

I liked both, but the salesguy said the suspension on the Cobia was better.
But what I don't understand is that both suspensions had a little dial that said "lockout".

The Rockhopper was solid with no movment when locked out.
The Cobia still compressed a little even when locked out.
Is that normal?

I wanted to ride with cross tires on the paved road at times, so I think I would want full lockout for that, wouldn't I? Is the Cobia no good for paved road riding since it won't lockout completely?

My Fisher has a slight movement when it is "locked out." Are you buying a mountain bike just for riding on the road? Have you looked at a hybrid by chance? Or do you want to go off road eventually?

My idea is that I eventually want a cyclocross for the road and a mountain bike for trails. Only enough money for one right now if I buy decent quality.

So I thought I'd get the 29er first for trails, and get a 2nd set of cyclocross tires if I want to do more of a paved road day, & live with that until I save money for the road bike.

Then when I get the road bike I'll already have a mtn bike, so I'll have one of each.

I'd just go with a straight up cyclocross bike then. You can use it on the road and on the trails. (And then you can do some cross racing if you choose.) I've had my cross bike (avatar) on the trails before and it does fine. If anything, it will teach you about taking the smoothest line up and downhill.

I tested a few cyclocross bikes in the parking lot and streets, and any rough pavement or bumps felt pretty jarring to my aging body. So I thought I'd be miserable with one on the forest roads around the mountains here. There are some pretty rough ones with washboards and potholes and tree limbs, etc.

Maybe I'd be fine though.....not sure. I haven't ridden a bike in 15 years, so maybe I'm just not used to it. I'm 39 and body parts are starting to hurt all of a sudden.

I've rode a few steel framed cross bikes and they are pretty comfortable. Have you looked at the Surly Cross Check? That is a very comfortable bike that you can use for all your purposes.

I was actually planning on testing out a steel one today to see if it felt any different. I love the "gravy brown" cross check, but they have that weird bar-end shifting. Trek has a Gary Fisher Lane steel bike which seems like a real ripoff for the price, but I think I'll try that one out just to see what it feels like.

If you buy the Cross Check and don't want bar ends, just opt for different shifters when you order the bike. The only GF cross bike I have road is the '09 Presidio. I probably would have bought that if it was available in my size.

The Cross Check is comfortable because it has a longer wheelbase than most crossers and can take wide tyres. The idea that steel frames can magically absorb ruts is pseudo science - if they did this to any significant degree you'd see the frame flexing vertically by several centimetres! What they can do, sometimes, possibly is to reduce road buzz - vibration from riding fast on tarmac.

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