This weekend I was in Mammoth Mountain (CA) and decided to rent a Specialized Mika....I was very impressed at how comfortable it was and I LOVE the lockout mechanism. It has been a while for me and I am now looking for a way to save up and have one of my own. I stumbled on this thread looking for prices on line and thought I might add my experience from this weekend.
There might be a mountain bike rental shop near you?