Which bike for a nOOb?

[font=Franklin Gothic Medium]If i were you, I would definatly NOT get a Mongoose, they just arent reliable. Thats like buying a Super Cycle (a crapy like costco bike). I would be scared to ride a Mongoose bike down a hill, I think I'de rather walk. Thats just my opinion...so personally I would lean towards the Kona Stinky.[/font]
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Dunno whats wrong with the Mongoose...havent really tried em out though. The 07 Black Diamond Double has RockShox Domain forks..thats 180mm of fun! The 06' Black Diamond Double featured Manitou Stances and in all honsety, i would stay away from stances...the build quality just isnt there. Have you considered a Norco VPS Atomic? For the price, you get a better bang for ya buck with a Norco then the Stinky of thats what your looking at. And I believe the '07 Atomics will have SuperTs insted of DropOff Triples...
Another alternative is the IronHorse bikes...I think its the Yakuza??? Again, one of the lower models has Manitou Stances so go for a higher-spec version...a guy that used to hoon around at my local jumps had one and he was a bit of a hucker...I once saw him frame case bad...the bike was ok from the outside after that but recently i hear he snapped his Stances at the headtube...so much for the 1.5" steerer eh? Good luck man.

I'd say, out of the 3 choices you're giving, the Stinky would generally be the better of the options - I know several people who started FR/DH on a stinky, and have progressed significantly on them...