Yup. I've been tempted to drop a lot of money on a nice road bike, but I realized two things. 1) I wouldn't enjoy such an expensive bike. 2) A previous work injury to my right hand makes it impossible for me to ride in the drops or on anything below saddle level.

I currently have a '06 rockhopper I use for road riding and for mountain biking. I don't go mountain biking as much as I would like to, but when I bought the bike I knew it was going to be doing double duty for a while so I bought the best I could afford at the time (this was back in March). I made the mistake of buying it a bit too big, so even with the handlebars as high as I could get them there was still too much pressure on my hands. I put on trekking bars, a Brooks saddle, and wide semi-slicks and before a health setback in July that kept me off the bike most of the month I was riding 35-40 miles on the road with no discomfort.

I'm planning on putting a rigid fork and a trekking crankset on the 'hopper and riding it on the roads and buying a better fitting bike for the dirt. For the amount of mountain biking I do, an entry level bike is enough.