[burnman]

Hi new reader and poster.

I've been a Philly-urban road biker for over a year. I currently ride a Lemond Nevada City, and can navigate some of the worst traffic ever.
However, I recently moved (read 2 weeks) to Durango, CO, which could prove pretty permanent.
Since my bike arrived, I've been riding around, checking the paved bike trail that goes into town and all that. I keep seeing these mountain bikes though, and look at the mountains out the backyard and drool, knowing that my trusty roadie could never handle it.
I want to take the plunge into mountain biking. Riding dirt trails, riding through trees, the whole bit. The gf and I are going to try out some mountain bikes this weekend, but also wanted to get some different opinions on a bike I'm looking at: a Kona Cinder Cone . The price doesn't seem to bad, and the parts aren't low-end trash.
I've had some people tell me I should go full suspension, but that jacks up my price a bit more, and since I'm used to road biking, I figure this kind of hard-tail would be a nice transition.

Any thoughts on this bike, or thoughts/warnings about mountain biking in general, are greatly appreciated.

BTW, if anyone lives in or close to Durango, let me know so we can meet up.

 

[SPDu4ea]

Since you haven't been really mountain biking before, I would suggest demoing (renting) some different styles of mountain bikes. You'll know immediately if mountain biking is not for you (without blowing $$$$). If you do like it, you'll be able to get a feel for different bikes and start off with a bike thats more likely to last you a few years (rather than buying a bike thats good enough to get you hooked into buying a better bike 6 months later...)

Just my rambling $0.02