I went with my friend to the bike shop today and he bought a hard-rock sport, pretty nice bike. I personally didn't like the ride all that much, just felt weird to me, but he took to it right away, probably from his BMX riding. He can already bunnyhop UP 1- 1 and a half foot legdes. We rode home from the shop and rode for like 6-7 hours today and he loved it, so im guessing they are also good bikes to start on, considering its his first MTB. We did switch the fork from the RST Gila T5 to my old MZ COMP. But all-in-all its a great bike for the money.