Don't buy him something he will want to upgrade in a year. Get him something "fail proof" that he will want to keep even if he falls in love with the sport even more and wants a nicer high-end carbon fiber bike in a few years.

http://www.cannondale.com/2012/bikes...-4-rival-20059 in the raw silver color. There's no way he won't like it and it also makes for one hell of a race bike should he get into that some day.

A gift card works too, but if you want to actually roll the bike out to him on Christmas day, that Cannondale CAAD10 should make him smile ear to ear.