i had read the first post again and again. And here are my extra question to ask all the friends here.

Advice 1: I want to start cycling, what should I know?

Question to ask yourself before plunging the sport of Mountain Biking

1. What kinda activity I want to join?
Choices
a) Ride around my taman
b) Ride to school and buy groceries
c) Join friends and go biking in some cross country tracks.
d) Or maybe simpler D activity in future.

For Question 1)
If you choose a) b) or even c)
A bike ranging from RM1500 and below is acceptable. Even bike RM700 and below will still be acceptable.

So most likely my budget is RM1k to 1.5k. Excluding accesories.

Advice 2: What the hell is Roadie, XC, AM, FR, DH?!?!

XC - Cross Country
Recommended Location --> FRIM, around your house.
Type - Cycle up, cycle down, cycle up, cycle down. Trail condition - double track, smooth to small bumps dirt road, gravel or tarmac.
Obstacles - Human, small humps.

AM - All Mountain
Recomendation Location --> Kiara, PCP
Type - More technical Cycle up, cycle down, push up, push down. Turn here turn there, drop less than 1 foot hill. Trail condition - Single track, double track, muddy, switchbacks, rocky, slightly bigger bumps.
Obstacles - tree branches, roots, rocks, switchbacks.

So most likely I choose between this two type, am I correct?, according to activity I choose above. Next question, did the brand or model tell us which bike is XC which bike is AM? Because whenever I cheap online or bicycle buy sell, it is not stated the type at all

Advice 3:
Question - I want to start mountain biking but I donno what bike to buy. Please advise.

Budget below RM1000.00
Answer - No need ask. Just get one you think the color suits you. Heck. They are all the same.
Choose these: Nexus, Exitway, Rockbike, Lerun and even to the extend Polygon <-- these are not really mountain bikes. Ha! Ha! Ha! icon_rolleyes.gif

Budget below RM2000.00
At this price range, there are many "branded" bikes to choose from hence making us more confusing.
Common brands in Klang Valley. Merida, Fuji, Marin, Raleigh, Norco, BH, Polygon, Giant, Scott, and probably a few more.

What are the important things to look for?

1. Fork
2. rear cassette
3. brakes

1. Fork from lowest to better fork
- SR Suntour (SRS) XCT, SRS XCM, SRS XCR, Rockshox Tora, SRS Epicon.
2. Rear cassette
At this price range, it doesn't really matter but for mountain bike, ask how many "teeth" the biggest cassette has. Preferably 34T or 32T. This is very important especially for beginner.
Having 8 cassette, 7 or 9 cassette doesn't really matter as long as your biggest is biggest! He! He! He!
3. Brakes
Wihout doubt, hydraulic brakes will be better than mechanical disc breaks and better than V breaks. Just that at lower range product, they all perform The same.

Since the advice for important component is these 3 (fork, rear cassette and brakes), will anyone of you buy the less than RM1k bike and upgrade later? Or you all will choose bike frame from the second category the below RM2000? I won't go for more than 2k first because the advice from question 1 for activity A, B and C is to buy budget less than RM1.5k
Did upgrading the component change it from XC to AM or vice versa? Local bike shop just knew to promote their less than RM1k MTB, and straight promo their RM4-5k MTB when you gave them more budget. So the grey area between RM1k to 3k like really grey area to me.
Because like the advice given in page 1, once your ball getting bigger, you may try harder trail and harder activity.
So is the less than RM1k frame handle stress similarly? I won't go for DH