Well, I'm at a bit of a dilemna, and thought I'd post here and see what others suggest.

My local bike shop has a decent selection of bikes, last year I purchased a 2003 Haro V2, loved the frame, hated the components. Sold the bike for non-biking reasons.

So I'm able to afford another bike. Honestly, I have about a $700 window, but would like to stay under $500 so that I can purchase a new helmet, etc.

I'm looking for a bike that will be used about 80% street/20% offroad. I'm not looking at any hucking, although the nearest courses are Stillhouse Hollow: firetrail/minor offroad on shale. There are some technical singletracks, but nothing advanced. There is also BLORA: their trail is set to beginner/intermediate/advanced. I've ridden them all on the V2 (I switched to a pepperoni fork I picked up dirt cheap) and loved it. Only reason this bike would see more road than off-road is it will be my primary commuter and those two courses are about 25 miles away. With my work schedule, its going to be tough getting much off-road in on a weekly basis. Figure the bike will see 1 day a week, about 15 hour rides off-road. and about 6 days a week, 10 miles on pavement (my commute).

I intend to have 2 sets of wheels, and consider disc brakes a waste atm considering I'd have to buy 2 sets of rims or do the rubber switch a lot.

I've been looking at my local bike shop, what I've found available to me is:
Specialized Hardrock Comp (2004 model) for $429 or a Giant Iguana (2004) for $399.

I'm not really interested, but they've pointed me at an Escape 8.2 (2004) for $550. I sorta was interested in the bike, the frame looked solid as a rock, until I realized that this is a 33 lb. beast. It was pretty obvious with the DH pedals, but I kinda thought it was just a mixed bag on components, etc. What I found is that this thing is a pig. I got to ride it for about 2 miles and while it was nice and stable, it was like peddling my grandma's old 72 Schwinn Cruiser.

I considered looking at the 2005 model V3/2 since I was very comfortable with the geometry of the frame, but its my understanding these aren't anything to write home about either in the weight/design department.

So between the comp and the iguana, which one is going to be more peddle friendly. Components don't concern me much, they are alivio/deore grade which means they'll be thrown away after I destroy them. I will be switching the front fork either to another pepperoni (if I can actually find one) or another solid rigid fork.

Out of the two, which one do you feel would survive my strange riding requirements?