cyclesick - awesome and.. interesting! There is a older Specialized Hardrock on the local craigslist for a very reasonable price, and I'd been thinking of getting it. The downsides to it were that it's the "CrMo" model, which at the time was the low-end Hardrock (low end low end), so chock full of low end components. HOWEVER it does have stuff that matters - steel frame, right size, flat bars, and 36h wheels. I'd ditch the silly RST fork for something like a Surly 1x1, and upgrade the component group.. hrm.
Out of curiosity, I have 0 experience with this, how does the whole bottom bracket thing work out with a road BB/crank on a MTB frame? It looks like Nashbar has their "compact road crank" on sale, and the 52/30 with the 11-32 would give one heck of a range in gearing.
I mean, hell, for the same price as a Trek FX I could build up quite the bike with that Hardrock frame. Any suggestions for components? You didn't mention what you used for a group?