First bike - any advice?

Rouen
Rouen Posts: 6
edited July 2008 in MTB beginners
Hello all, this is my first post on this forum :D

I'm 20 and used to bike absolutely everywhere as a kid but stopped when I was about 14 and subsequently got fat. I've lost about 3 stone going to the gym but I'm starting college in September and want to save myself £80+ in train fares, so I will be getting a new bike on payday.

I've looked a little bit so far but I'm not really mechanically minded when it comes to bikes so the technical stuff goes way over my head. I did however go into my local bike shop and asked around. I was originally attracted by the Ridgeback Cyclone http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s9p3601 because the majority (if not all) of my riding will be on the road, but I do plan on taking it into the rougher stuff when I get used to biking again, so I'm not sure if the slick tyres of the Cyclone/Urban bikes would be any good?

So been looking at some mountain ones, my budget is around £300 max for a Hardtail. So far I'm looking at these :

http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p3568 Ridgeback MX2 2008
http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p3405 MONGOOSE Tyax Comp
http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p4123 GT Outpost
http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p4397 GT Avalanche 3.0

I'm 6`2 and 14.6 stone, the guy at the bike shop said I would need to look at 19 or 20" frames. So, what do you think, any advice or suggestions? I think its between the GT Avalanche or the Ridgeback MX2. How do you think the tyres would cope with being on the road the majority of the time?

Cheers! 8)