Originally Posted by drjones

Depends how much your looking to spend.. make sure you buy a bike from an actual bike shop, and not a department store. I have been into Freestyle BMX and light mountain biking since I was a kid, and have worked bike shops for years, so I can tell you, the service at a bike shop is, by far, superior. They generally offer good deals on service too, when you buy a bike at a shop.

Stick with name brands like Specialized, Trek, Gary Fischer (no schwinn!!), Giant, Cannondale etc. For what you want to do, you probably want a hardtail mountain bike.

Many people will buy an extra set of wheels and put street tires on one pair, and off road tires on the other. Wheels on all decent new bikes are usually quick release, so it takes a few seconds to switch wheel sets. If your going to be serious about riding, it might be worth it. Also, trail riding can be hard on the wheels, and you'll break spokes, and bend rims often. If you screw up your trail set, you still have your street set that you can use.

What type of riding do you want to do? Just exersice? Or do you want to do some "urban" mountain biking... (jumping of ledges, steps, doing grinds etc)?