Ok so I finally found two good shops that have some inventory, one has some niners, specialized etc, the other is trek Gf etc. Ide decided to spend about $1,500 for now which I hope gets me a bike that I wont be able to out ride within a year or so. I have a few bikes im looking at, what would you pick? Gary fisher cobia 29er, trek 6700 comp disc, Gary Fisher Mamba or marlin, or a similar specialized. would you add anytihng I should check out? Ide like FS but I know if you go cheap you end up being slower due to poor suspension etc. so i wanna go with a pretty good hardtail for now. any advice is appreciated.