I just bought a Specialized Rockhopper, the base model, this spring, under just these conditions: wanted to get out on trails, wasn't sure I would like it, didn't want to spend a lot of money. I test rode a lot of bikes and I liked the Rockhopper best for the price range. Actually I really liked the higher-end Rockhopper better than the base model, just because of the components (the ones I was riding had the exact same frame), but eventually I figured out that it was the fork on the low-end model that was bugging me -- and after two days of test-riding the only one the shop had in my size, my husband and I finally convinced the shop that it had a bad fork. (We had to hunt down a mechanic because the sales people just blinked at us.) They swapped it out and I bought the bike.

I like it okay although I will never be a mountain biker. I had pictured tooling along dirt trails looking at nature, but my husband would like me to do crazy things involving steep hills, and I don't know that I will ever have that kind of confidence. I fell a lot on our last ride out, on steepish hills with lots of deep gullies, and somehow kept finding the biggest rocks on which to bang my knee. It's been two months and I've still got some lumps.

If I had it to do over again and really thought I would like this, I would have paid for the Rockhopper Comp. It was the one I liked the best, and I am not really happy with the brakes and shifters on my bike. It took us forever to get the shifting dialed in and it's still pretty sticky sometimes. And that is a big pain, because while I rarely shift my road bike, I shift constantly on the mountain bike.

If I stick with this I am definitely upgrading the brakes. I don't know that I needed disk brakes, but the Tektro linear pull brakes inspire no confidence whatsoever.

In some ways I wish I'd bought a used bike instead. My bike weighs more than my husband's old steel Bianchi hardtail, which originally had no suspension but he added a suspension fork a few years ago. I really love his bike and borrow it when I can, although it is too big for me. I like the Rockhopper but I think I might have been happier on an old steel hand-me-down.