Thanks --- Well, I am wanting a bike that my husband can ride that will be good on the road and I can ride on the dirt trails.....and he is about 5-8 same inseam as me (30)

Of course I am researching right now.......I am not really sure I want a suspension fork.......I have ridden on dirt roads and trails with my road bike before, albiet at a much lighter weight and REALLY enjoyed it....mountain biking had just not come of age then.......and I am more used to that position. I checked on out at the shop and the frond end was rather heavy.

I gather cyclocross is the other recommended option but they seem so expensive for some reason.

Suggestions welcome........

We go back and forth about restoring his bike or just touching it up, overhauling and getting it up and running again. If we restore it we have a long downtime for him without a bike / but he could ride a new one with me. If we get it up again, I need to put off riding in the woods because the money went to fix his old bike.

Decisions decisions - I really would like to do some trail stuff ASAP. I would still not have to put it off that long and maybe there is a target weight where I would be better on some sort of trail bike. There are a lot of places around her to ride on trails that are not too difficult. Plus I am in the woods a lot as it is with the search and rescue stuff and it would be nothing after training to go for a ride with the dog.