Pick your time. Usually bike shops have their sales in the fall when you can get a previous year model at a good discount.

Avoid carbon fiber frames and pro level gruppos. Go for an alumninum frame and a Deore gruppo as it's gonna save you a load of cash and give you a good bike to get started.

Save some cash to buy a new saddle. Usually the saddles that come with lower cost bikes are incredibly uncomfortable. Money spent on a good saddle is money well spent.

Most importantly, enjoy your bike as much as you can!

You don't need to, that said, there are a lot of riders that have more bike than they have the skills for. Sometimes I feel like I am in that category.

I just spent a weekend in Whistler at a mountain bike camp where a young lady on a maybe $1400 hard tail bike was rolling the same stuff I was on the rented $5k bike. She grew up riding Vancouver's north shore.

My advice for those looking to buy a bike that aren't already gear heads is:

1) Pick your budget 2) Test ride a bunch of bikes in that budget range 3) Pay attention to how the shop you test ride at is treating you -- you want a shop you are comfortable with

Fit of bike and how it feels to you is probably most important. If the bike you like is at a shop you aren't fond of, you can always use another shop for service.

The thing about these bikes is that they're bikes you can take out to a DH race and win on. They are the F1s of cycling. I think the most expensive DH bikes top out at $10-15k.

It always bugs me when amateurs look at professional equipments (literally: equipment you use in your profession which you should be making money on) and go, "hmpf, that's too much!" Same thing with tons of software - if you're not making money with it, there's rarely reason to buy it. And if you are, then it shouldn't be a major expense in the context of your profession.