I like my gifts to be a surprise. I hate just getting the stuff for Christmas and Birthday like checking off a list of what I asked for. Boring... But if for some reason my wife said I had to go pick out a brand new bike with a nice budget for my Christmas and Birthday that would be pretty exciting. I would be testing out bikes like crazy and then probably ordering some bike over the internet from Bikesdirect...

Anyway, other posters have described a pretty fun shopping time for this couple which would be better than a surprise IMO. If the budget is big enough it will be pretty fun to take him to a shop and let him check bikes out. She could make the outing to the bike shop a surprise and drive him there and tell him to pick out a bike. Maybe this idea won't work for a number of reasons, but I would at least run it past your friend to see what she thinks. I am giving my bike a mountain bike as a gift for Christmas that will be a surprise, but I am pretty sure she will like it because it has purple on it. LOL