Great comments everyone! I can't find anything to add!

Well - one little anectdote: A guy that used to work here was pretty excited about riding with us during lunch. He went out and bought a Walmart cheapo. We "spoke the message" about buying a quality bike. By the end of our one hour - fairly easy XC ride at a local park...he had:

Bent both rims to the point of being unusable.
Bent the handlebars down about 15 degrees.
Felt very out of control on the downhill sections because the brakes were so weak...his hands were cramped and sore by the time we returned to work.

He was soured by the experience unfortunately - returned the bike and never went again.