New at 50

Deac1960

hi im thinking of getting into mountain biking at the ripe old age of 50 no bike yet any recommendations?

cavegiant

A full suspension will be both more comfortable and harder to crash.

There is a sticky for bike recomends, I think the Mongoose teocali is stunningly good.
Pauls cycles has it for a better price than his rcmnd though.

weeksy59

start with small hills

blister pus

I would buy a cheap, but decent, hardtail (no rear suspension) as a starter bike to get you used to cycling in parks, canal paths and local bridleways etc, that way you don't waste money on an expensive full suspension bike if you decide it's not for you. It's a good starting point and breaks you in nicely. Decathlon and Halfords do a decent range of starter bikes with their RockRider and Carrera (respectively) brands. Sitting on them in the flesh is pretty essential for correct fit and feel

Northwind

Good on you! A mate of mine took up riding when he retired, now he's a total speed demon

Recommendations depend too much on budget... And also on what sort of riding you'll be doing. But you can't know what sort of riding you'll be doing til you start riding. So it's tricky. I always reckon getting in at the level of "good but not expensive" is the way to do it... Spending £2500 on a full suss bike then riding it twice and deciding that actually, mountain biking is rubbish, is not a good plan See if you can borrow one. Or, if you're in reasonably good shape and you can already handle a bike, getting to a trail centre and doing a hire might work well to get a feel for it. But if you're pretty much a total noob, then it takes time to learn so really that needs a bike you can use full time.

Which I think is a roundabout way of saying, if you can afford it, buy a Carrera Fury as it's relatively inexpensive but is just expensive enough to avoid the problems of genuinely cheap bikes.