My wife's birthday is this month and we are looking for a new cruiser framed bike for her to do a bike/bus commute with. She wants something with 7+ speeds with a cruiser frame, and the budget is 400$ or so. She has a schwinn cheapie cruiser, a "Jaguar" she bought at target years ago for 100$. It's a bit busted up now, and I think having it repaired would cost more than the bike is worth. I will probably fix it later, but I'd like for her to have something new in the meantime. I want her to have something more reliable than that, but not "steal me now" expensive. She has been looking mostly at REI, but I think we should consider other bike shops/brands too. Does anyone have any models or brands they recommend? Are the Electras worth the difference in price from the Novaras or k2s? We have one of those 20% off coupons, but I still want to look at most of the local options.