Thanks again for all the helpful replies. I'm leaning heavily toward the Fantom 29 X9 from bikeisland. I'm concerned about the Elixir 3 brakes-- they seem awfully finicky and not the most refined-- but the price is low enough that I can upgrade them if I really need to. I'm also not sure how well the Reba RL will handle a clyde, but I'm well into my weight loss and am moving along steadily, so hopefully that will be less of a concern in time.