Ok so I looked up the bikes that were recommended to you. Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of the dual sport bike. I have a Scott sportster which is the same type of bike as the Gary fisher that was recommended to your son.
As for your son I think that type of bike is a great recommendation but would strongly urge that he steps up to the katai. The katai has a lockout suspension front fork. The bodega does not. When he is riding on the road he will want this feature so that he is not bobbing up and down going up hills.
For you I would recommend the same bike or step up to the utopia. It has the same frame with better components. The store recommend a hardtail mountain bike. Since you ate doing most of you riding on road I would not go with a straight up mountain bike. The dual sport bike like the katai and utopia has gearing that you will find very useful. It has low gears close to a mountain bike that will help you get up the steep hills and it has the higher gearing closer to a road bike so that you will not run out of gears on the road like you would with a mountain bike. The dual sport bikes also have 700c wheels which are the size of road bike wheels which will give you more speed.
If you are not doing anything that requires front suspension then one of the trek fx's would be a good option also.
I hope this helps.
Last edited by Sportster2009; 02-25-11 at 09:59 AM.