aah fair nuff. Well the sort of trails I want to tackle are mostly gravel/dirt, and relatively easy to run. Theres few sections with ruts and such, but really the big obstacles will be tree roots, and stumps. I dont plan to be doing much in the rock garden/jump arena at all. I want sometihng that'll let me travel great distances quickly, even if the distance isnt on the best of roads. (i know that a road bike with fatter tires can handle these things too, but I imagine the rims, and components arent as robust against that kind of abuse, and rather for speed).
thats a nice bike there though. thanks for the link!