[bike] found something on craigslist, does it look like a good option?

[davester]

I had an early mountain bike (pre-shocks) made of high end cro-mo steel that I used extensively in wilderness areas of Nevada, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is no way that any amount of compliance in the frame can come close to equaling the shock absorption of a bike with shocks. The claim of your 29er friends sounds like bike macho to me, just like the macho silliness I hear from fixie riders who claim their bikes are faster than multispeed machines (which is only true at one speed, which is only reached long after a multispeed rider has pulled away from them).

I definitely disagree with your statement regarding frame breakage. Frame breakage is very common among mountain bike riders. Most frame breakage is due to metal fatigue, something that aluminum frames are more susceptible to than steel.