Sweet bike Rick! I did the same thing as you a few months back and purchased a used, "basic" Specialized Hard Rock. I was looking at the Rock Hoppers and Hard Rocks all over Craigslist, and finally found someone parting with a great Hard Rock that was well cared for, for $100. Worth every penny as a starter bike for me! I just needed something that could hold all my weight to get me into the hobby without spending thousands of dollars. So far, I've been super happy with it. Haven't taken it anywhere extreme, but I've hit the dirt a few times and it knows every road around my neighborhood at this point. I'm like you - I was super into BMX when I was a teenager and never got into MTB. The only mountain bikes I've ever owned were cheap walmart ones that would derail the chain as soon as you put any kind of power into your pedaling. So I'm stoked on this bike!
For the record, Ghost65 gave me pretty much the same advice when I was asking for his opinions before I pulled the trigger on this bike. Ride the hell out of it until you decide you need/want something better, and then upgrade the whole bike and sell this one for what you paid for it. Oh, and the other advice he gave me was to stay the hell away from the MTB forums, unless I needed another money pit to spend all my paychecks on.
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So far, it's been perfect for family bike rides in the neighborhood:
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