[DrBob]

I agree with tlwisner: buy a cheep, small, very used bike. You ARE going to drop it learning to ride, and you don't want to break you r heart when you scratch up a brand-new bike. You are also going to outgrow any small bike you can learn on, but will not be able to handle a bigger bike you will not outgrow, so buy a cheepy and see what kind of riding you emjoy and do the most: do you carve up mountain roads, cruise to the local Dairy Queen, take long trips, or just ride to work and back to save gas? Until you figure this out, you don't know what the best bike for you would be: sport bike, cruiser, touring bike, or standard.

Play around on it for the summer, and then towards the end of the riding season, when bikes are cheeper, buy yourself a larger, new bike that you will be happy with for a few years. And sell your cheepy for what you paid for it to a friend who wants to start riding but doesn't know what type of bike to start with...