My lady friend is looking to purchase a MTN bike this spring and I am helping here find the perfect bike. Her needs are pretty basic. Will be used for transportation with the occasional trail ride. Definitely a hardtail XC sort of bike. She is looking to spent around $400. I think that is fairly reasonable given her needs and experience. We have only been to one bike shop and they were mainly a Specialized dealer. She tried both the Hardrock(in a womans M size) and the Rockhopper(in 17in mens). Almost the same exact geometry from the looks of it by prefered the feel of the Hardrock. The only other bike that was a slight option was the Giant STP3 which is one of those urban insaino bikes. Dont know too much about those but the frame seemed to fit her alright. We definitely plan to hit up a bunch more shops and take some test rides but I was hoping to get some input from the bike junkies on the site. Thanks much.
