Good choice for a first mountain bike?

[tealtreak]

Well, it took a little time but I finally got a bike! I bought a four year old bike by Avanti. It only cost me $150NZ, an absolute steal. It's in great condition, well looked after. I figure it'll give me a year to decide whether I like riding offroad enough to upgrade, and by that time the next year's sales will be starting. Right now I have a bike which will enable me to get my husband to drag out his bike from storage and tackle a few easy trails with me. I'm a very happy Pip!

Congrats! Enjoy! One tip (you may already know) with Mt biking- some obstacles, jumps, log piles etc..... are way easier on a bike with more travel or really good shocks (might be using the wrong vernacular) I have a hard tail Trek that I love, but one day I rode my son's Kona and discovered the difference...WOW I upgraded my front shocks the next day....and realized some of the tuff stuff wasn't ME but the limits of my bike.............

[Artista]

I totally agree with tealtreak about the quality of shocks contributing to skills. I have never upgraded a shock on a bike but I have upgraded bikes twice. Each new bike fit me better and came with better shocks than the previous one. My riding significantly improved with each upgrade.

[Pip]

Yes, I predict I'll be a bit limited in how much I can do with this bike, but it's so cheap that I'm not too worried if I end up buying something else towards the end of this year. It will also give me a chance to satisfy myself that I am a small sized frame, not a medium. One of the sales guys in a store I went into was trying to get me onto a medium but I just didn't feel right about the standover. To be honest I suspect I'm probably just in between sizes, but I guess I'll find out when I start riding up some of the steep hills around here. If I feel like I'm about to tip over backwards then .....

[Pip]

I picked up my bike this morning! Wow - the guy I bought it off was selling it on behalf of his daughter, who is now too tall for it. She walked out and I swear the girl was all legs with about a 10 inch waist. Long blonde hair, all of about 14 years old, and stunning! All 5' 3"ish of me just kind of sighed. Obviously I had to drop the seat .... Having never ridden a mountain bike before I'm not sure exactly how high it should be. I did raise it slightly again after riding it up and down the street a few times, but I still feel like I need to get some proper advice on fit. I have no clue about the handlebars! I may also need to move the seat forward a bit - I suspect the kid probably had arms as long as her legs.

All up I think I got quite a good deal. It's a bit scratched up, but it is four years old and she's obviously used it, which in my opinion is a good thing. It's my first bike with front shocks, which is a bit of a revelation! I want to go ride some trails today but hubby doesn't seem terribly inclined to leave his computer desk and it's also hella windy out there, which will make the return trip on the flat, easy trail I have in mind a bit nasty on the way back.

Oh to heck with it. I can't ride next weekend because I'm away on a trail running event. I might just have to go for a bit of a solo ride!