DraXxus1549 said:
How ambitious would I need to be to put one together? Also and suggestions on a bike with a good fork that is ready to ride?
Well, most "wrenching" requires that you have previously demonstrated the capability to unscrew-out-and-screw-in a light bulb ... some instruction may be necessary & most of it is available at
www.parktool.com OR you can buy (or, borrow from some libraries) a copy of a book like ZINN AND THE ART OF MOUNTAIN BIKE MAINTENANCE.
You'll need some generic Metric tools + possibly some bike specific tools (e.g., Bottom Bracket tool + cassette lockring tool + chain tool ... the last two are items you will probably want to own regardless of whether you buy a ready-to-ride bike or assemble one yourself). You can actually buy most of the non-bike-specific tools you which you may need from a place like HARBOR FREIGHT if you don't happen to have some of them already.
I see some pretty nice, USED suspension forks being sold for less than $100 on eBay quite frequently ... you can certainly pay more!
You can check
Mountain Bike Product Reviews - Mtbr.com to see how good/bad a particular suspension fork is considered to be.
You can certainly buy a USED Hardtail frame for $50+ (not counting shipping) ... of course, you can pay more!
After that, how much you choose to spend on the rest of the components depends on your budget -- nicer components are lighter.
As far as a good Hardtail for $300 which is ready to ride ... tough to find unless you are looking at used bikes ... choose the bike based on the fork. IMO, Marzocchi is better than Rock Shox ... and, Rock Shox is better than Manitou. RST should be avoided as most-if-not-all are nothing better than glorified pogo sticks.
