Quote:
Originally Posted by BikeNY
What kind of trails are you planning to ride? Are they really rocky and technical with lots of rock gardens and logs and such? Or smoother with only the occasional technical feature? That should give you some direction on bike type. HT vs FS.
There must be shops around your area that will at the very least let you ride a couple of bikes around the parking lot to get a feel for the right size.
In your situation, I think a hardtail 29er with the biggest tires that fit makes the most sense. Ride that for a season so you have some idea what kind of trails you like, what you like about the bike and what you don't. No point in spending even more money on a bike that may not fit right, may not be the style of bike you end up liking, etc. You may end up not even liking mountain biking!
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I agree with considering what kind of riding you're doing, and being realistic about it
. I came from a BMX background so a small-ish, squirrel-y bike was a good first choice for me, I got a ~2008 santa cruz chameleon. It jumped super well coming from BMX, but was harsh going into similar "level" rock gardens. I've since moved up to a longer, slacker, trail/jump-y oriented bike with a plush shock, making "hard" rock gardens more straightforward than the older hardtail.
Point being, if you're jumping or came from BMX, go medium (fit will probably small-ish on you). If you want a boat with stability for plowing through chunder, go bigger. If you're riding XC, 29er hardtail is probably a good bet at a good price.
TL;DR - a hardtail, older generation bike around the ~$500-1000 will serve you well, and could be resold with minimal loss of value if you hate it or want something fancier in a year.