[the_saint]

CLIFNOTES: 5'10, 170#, cheap 24" complete, BMX/rigid single speed



Hello folks. I'm new here, been trolling a little bit & well, like the title says, I'm wondering what bike I should get.

I'm 5'10, 175# & haven't seriously ridden a bike in some time. My last bike (10 years ago) was some Mongoose - walmart special mountain bike & hated it. It never 'felt' right and I wasn't a fan of all the gears. Before that it was always some kind of bmx.

Now that the bike bug has bitten again, I thought I'd like to get a 20" BMX bike like back in the days, but when I went to the bike shop I discovered that a 20 wasn't going to work, but I sat on a 24" and it felt much better. So now I'm thinking 24 is what I want. Single speed, no suspension...simple & cheap (at least to start with).

I'd like to get a bike that I can take through some trails & maybe even jump with...but it's mainly going to see duty riding up and down the street & some paved trails that the city has built around town.

I've looked online and have researched most of the 24" bmxs & I think I've settled on the General Lee. The Haro x24 looks nice, but I don't know if it's worth the extra $100. I'd like to stay in the sub $400 range, and the smaller the price tag, the happier the 'boss' will be

I've also been doing a little looking on eBay as well, and it seems that the used 24s on there are usually cruiser/race bikes with aluminum frames. Would one of those be worth while? I'm curious, would one of those bike would be able to handle 175# of abuse, especially if I decide to try DJ?

I've "researched" pretty much the gammut of bmx vendors. I have not looked at any mountain bike brands, but if you guys think there might be something down that avenue, I'm open to suggestions.

Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[cmc]

streets and paved trails--you do not need suspension.... but if you go off road on xc mtb trails with roots rocks etc. then suspension!!! it is just so flowy and fun.

so if you think you'll get more into xc mtb trails, plus some jumping then get an entry level 26" dirt jump mtb. like the DK XENIA or haro zero/thread etc.

 

[Cru Jones]

I was just checking out the Haro X24. It looks nice. The geo looks better than most cruisers (14.25 chainstay is what I think it says, and 12.3 bb sounds money to me). I would go for that over the General Lee.

Check out the Eastern Traildigger 24, too.

An aluminum race frame would be fine for the type of riding you're describing. But, if you plan to do more street/park/DJ stuff, I'd go for something cromo.