I'm shopping for a good, used mountain bike. Need info.

[maveric]

What should I look for? Make? Frame size and style? Are Shimano gears a good thing?
I've never owned or even ridden a mountain bike before. How many speeds are the norm?
What makes should I avoid?

[happyslug]

1. Get one to fit you.

Right now, all other things equal, the two best bike Frames are the Cannondales and the Treks (Only the Treks made in the US, the lower end Treks imported from China are NOT as good). There are others, but you have to talk to a good bicycle store to find out what is needed.

Once you decided on the make, you have to decide on the Type. You have indicated you want a "Mountain Bike". These tend to be tougher (Do more to shorter frame than anything else, longer frame smoother ride, shorter frame more response AND toughness, the decision is which way you want to go). If you ride on asphalt, Concrete (i.e "hardtop" Roads) you do NOT need the toughness of the Mountain bike nor the shocks absorber that come with most of them, but it is YOUR decision, just a comment of mine.

Side Comment: Do NOT go by what I said is the "Best" bike for you, go by want you want. Your Bike is an extension of you and shows what you would like to be seen. I always give a Automotive Example to show why. If you live in a Swamp, but want a "Sports Car" you should get a "Sports Car"" for that is what you want, you may be better off with a Four Wheel Drive Car or even a Boat, but if what YOU WANT is a Sport car nothing else will do (The same with some one living in the City that wants a SUV, he or she does NOT need one, but they want one and will NOT be happy with something else).

Now, unlike Automobiles, bikes can be made "better" for use in an environment it was NOT designed for. Fir example if you live in the city and want a Mountain Bike, once you use it you can switch to "Slicks" for better highway usage, you can switch out the handle bars to one that is better on road. The opposite is also true, you can get wider tires for a road bike if you travel on dirt roads and even get better seats to ease the comfort of the bike. Now a Mountain Bike will NEVEr be as good on the Road as a Road Bike (and the Road bike will NOT be as good as a Mountain bike off road), but you can make adjustments to the bike to better handle the environment you are in.

Now that I have said my piece on you should make the decision on the type of bike you should get, lets look at the three types of Mountain Bikes:

1. Hard Tails (i.e. NO rear Shocks) with NO front shocks. Rare today, but these were the first "Mountain Bikes" in the 1970s and 1980s. Can take a beating but keep on riding. If you are NOT going off road (Or the dirt road you are traveling have few rocks) this is the best bike to get (But you probably will NOT find one at your local bike store so expect to buy a bike with a Front Shock). The tires are wide to spread your weight AND place the maximum of rubber on the Ground for Traction(as on ALL Mountain Bikes).

2. Hard Tails with Front Shocks. These are the most popular today (Through you are seeing more and more "Soft-Tails" i.e. Bicycles with REAR shocks absorbers). On my Mountain Bike I have used both Front Shocks and No Shocks. On pavement (Provided it is NOT a patch work of patches like some of the roads I travel on in Johnstown Pa do to "deferred Maintenance" i.e. the City has problems paying its payroll let alone paving its streets) Front shocks are just dead weight on your front wheel. On Dirt roads (Provided not to many rocks and/or tree roots or stumps) also excess weight for the little shock absorbing the front shock does in such cases. On the other hand on single tracks and trails with a lot of rocks and roots the shock absorber come in handy (and unlike rear Shocks, you can add a Front Shock if you want to). On my Mountain Bike I have used both front Shocks and no Front Shocks, except for roads that were patch quills with a lot of potholes, the front shocks were, In my opinion, not worth the extra Weight.

3. Hard Tales with Rear Shocks. While they look good and people state they are easier to ride than non-rear shock bikes, the main thrust of most rear shocks IS NOT to make the ride of the rider "nicer" but to keep the rear wheel (i.e. your "Drive" wheel) on the ground more than a hard Tale Bike. The Shock permits the rear wheel to stay on the ground while the rest of the bike is going up. Compared to Hard tails, these soft tails provide more traction during racing events (and it is bicycle racing that pushes bike development). Soft Tales are MUCH more expensive than Hard-tails for very marginal increase in traction in race conditions (Where such marginal increase can be the difference between winning and losing). In my opinion, soft-tails are NOT worth the money for most people riding ability. If your riding improves and you decide to race up and down perfectly good mountain sides, I do recommend them for this type of riding (and I recommend a good set of Disc Brakes to help you STOP when going up and down perfectly good hillsides).

One last note on Soft-Tails, the Frame of a bike absorb a lot of your peddling power. The stiffer the Frame the power is absorbed (Thus Aluminum bikes are easier to peddle than Steel frame do to Aluminum's greater Stiffness compared to Steel). A problem with soft-tails is that the shock makes the frame less stiff and thus harder to peddle than a Hard tail frame. Efforts have been made to solve this problem by permitting the rider to lock out the shocks if not needed, but even with the lock-outs, hard tails are stiffer than soft-tails.

Components: SRAM is an up and coming American Component company. Some of its Components are as good as Shimano. SRAM system of grade is also easier to understand than Shimano, SRAM uses a simple number system, with its 9.0 series being its best and the 7.0 its second tier.

As to Shimano, it has been the number one bicycle Component maker since Schwinn first outsourced its Component manufacturing to Shimano in the 1960s. This agreement lead to Shimano dominates of the Component parts of Bicycles and Schwinn's death in 1992(The Schwinn name lives on, but the Company was dissolved in 1992 by US Bankruptcy Court which sold off the Schwinn name as Schwinn's most important remaining asset in 1992).

Anyway the top end 26 Mountain bike components of Shimano are the XTR series. These cost twice as much as the next Tier XTs, but like Soft-tails give only a marginal advantage over XT (Again important for Racing but NOT most people's usage). Next comes the LX series, which is the lowest I would go for the LX while cheaper than the XT, is MUCH less in quality than the XT (In fact I would go with the XT for it is the best for the money component).

A comment on the Shimano Nexus system. Shimano does not seems to know what it wants to do with the name Nexus. A few years ago it looked like it was going to replace the LX (and maybe the XT) but now Shimino is saying the name is reserved to Shimano Internal Hub system that is NOT LX, XT, or XTR. I have a bike with a Nexus 7 speed rear hubs (It is a few years old, Shimano nows has a eight speed internal hub). I like it, Internal hubs, while heavier than the Derailleur system, do NOT permit dirt to get into the gears AND you can switch gears while standing still (Unlike Derailleur Systems which must be moving to change gears). The Nexus Tier also contained the front Hub Generators produced by Shimino (These are NOT as good as the German and Swiss Generators but a lot cheaper). I have been using a Schmidt SON Front Hub Generator for Several Years, I like it and I would recommend it to anyone. I further state you should get the LCD Front and Rear lights for the SON so that you can have the light on all the time, I am surprised at the people who see me because my headlight is on even during daylight (I am so convinced of this advantage I will NOT ride a bike without a Generator Light any more). Now do NOT confuse these with the old Generators of the 1960s, those were junk. My SON do NOT cause me to do any additional peddling over what I would do if I did NOT have the SON on my bike.

PeteR White Wheels: the Schmidt SON generator:
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/

You can get the Nexus Generator from Harris Bicycles:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/lighting/shimano.html

Shimano Components:
http://bike.shimano.com/catalog/cycle/products/category.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302039898&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181419&bmUID=1146626414662

SRAM Components:
http://www.sram.com/en/index_content.php

Cannondale:
http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/index.html

Trek:
http://www2.trekbikes.com/lang_redirect.php

[Longhorn]

2. Happy, what do you think about Gary Fisher bikes?

http://www.fisherbikes.com/index.asp

Seems like whenever I hear or read someone refer to them, it is always with awe. :)

[happyslug]

3. The Bedford Manufacturing Plant of Cannondale is One County Over

So, Cannondale is what most people in my Area buy (The Plant is in Bedford County, just down PA 56 From Johnstown Pa).

As to Fisher Bikes, no one in my area sells them, but they look as good as any other American or European made bike (The Chinese produce MOST of the Bikes and a lot of them are Junk).

A good Rule of Thumb is if the Bike Frame is made in the US, it tends to be a Very Good Frame, the opposite is true of Chinese Made bikes (Remember this is a rule of thumb I have seen some VERY Good Chinese bikes, for Example Giants have a good reputations for a Chinese made Bike).

My advice is look at the Frame, is is High Carbon Steel? Chrome-Moly Steel? Aluminum? Carbon Fiber? Titanium? (Each is stiffer than the one before it). The Stiffer the Frame the easier it will be to Pedal.

The next question is the Components, SRAM 9.0? 7.0? Shimano XTR? XT? LX? I would stay away from anything else unless the dealer can say it is as good as one of these (I once had a Cannondale Front gear that I liked which was almost up to these levels, but it was Cannondale own name NOT Cannondale's Coda Brand, which had a bad reputation in the industry, the gear only fault was someone had NOT smooth down one of the side of the teeth so my chain would get stuck at times).

That is all that I can say, but remember you get what you pay for.