The
Giant Rock, Boulder, and maybe the Rincon should be in the upper end of your price range, the Rincon's probably a bit over. The Rock & boulder were our bread & butter bikes for people getting into cycling, they spec good parts on them and they hold up pretty well. The only problem in your case is the bright shiny paintjob that Giant uses on all their bikes, it literally screams "steal me now" so you'll want to get a good lock for it. The Kona Smoke which my GF has is much lower key and I feel it's better built, but you'll still need a good lock since bike theives know what to look for. Since you're using the bike for getting around town, have the shop swap the tires to smooth city tires, they're quieter, faster, and last a lot longer for pavement riding.
Jean Paul wrote:I've noticed a lot of bikes now come with hydraulic disk brakes. Are they any better than traditional rubber-pad rim brakes or are they just a marketing thing? (Hey maw, looky here! Hydrolical disk brakes! Kewl!)
Hydraulic disc brakes are the most important innovation in mountain biking since suspension. A good set of discs (Shimano, Avid, Hayes, Hope) dramatically increases braking power and control, you can hold wheels on the edge of lockup for maximum braking power, and on long downhills the brakes will not fade and lose power. On a downhill, I can gain 5-10 seconds/minute on a non-disc bike, at the bottom of a 5 minute downhill I can be almost a minute ahead. A long & steep enough downhill will cook a set of traditional rubber rim brakes, the pads glaze & harden from the heat and they will never stop well again, discs avoid this problem. Also, while the initial setup is a pain, once that's done you never have to fiddle with them again unless you really wreck your bike in a crash. They are very dependable. Just make sure you get metallic pads for them, organic or kevlar pads may be more grippy but they can't take the heat and don't last as long.
