Mountain bikes can vary hugely in both price and quality, so it is important to be clear about what you are looking for when you go shopping and before you actually buy anything. There is a huge amount of choice so you need to know what you are looking for. If you want it for cross-country then you will need a light mountain bike, but even then you have more options. Do you want a full suspension or just the front shocks? Or would you like some thing a bit heavier such as a free ride? They are much tougher than the cross-country mountain bikes, but will also be a bit heavier to ride and you need to know if you really need it.

Probably a good place to start is to find some mountain bike reviews, then you should be able to understand about the capabilities of the different bikes and what may be suitable for you. Cost can also be a major factor in your choice and there can be a huge difference in the cost of different bikes. A good series of mountain bike reviews can help you to make the cost and use comparison effectively so that you know how much it is going to cost you for the bike that you want and why you might want to buy that particular bike. After all there is no point in paying several hundred dollars for a bike if you are not really sure if it is the one for you.

There are many places that you can find mountain bike reviews and there should be no problem finding a review of the bike that you are looking for. The easiest place to start looking for mountain bike reviews is in the mountain bike magazines or websites. Mountain bikers are always looking for the next best thing and so there are often tests of the latest bikes and equipment. They all look great in the store but it's not until they behave been really tested well that you can know how good they are.

When you have read the mountain bike reviews and think that you know the bike that you are looking for, do test lots of bikes and dont just buy the one that had the best review in the magazine. You need to make sure that it is the right bike for you and no amount of reviews from others can decide that for you. So read all the reviews but make sure that you try the bike of your choice well before you spend you money.