Thank you ladies or reaffirming what I thought was right. Like i said, i gave the guy the benefit of the doubt since I thought maybe it didn't matter with regular peddles.

Salsa, thanks for that link - you are right - great resource for investigating the right bike for him.

The disc brake question is an interesting one. Our LBS (not the one referenced above, but also not the one from which i bought my Ruby ) has just started carrying Marin bikes. They get great reviews and the company is known for having good components at each price point relative to others, but you don't get disc brakes till you get pretty expensive. But their moderate priced bikes are disc ready, so he can upgrade in the future if he feels the need.

Final qustions, steel vs alum or composite. Steel just sounds like the right material for a guy his size. Is it truely stronger?