Inexpensive mountain bikes

[goldfinch]

I am casually looking for an inexpensive mountain bike that would be more suitable than my Cannondale Quick for ratty dirt roads, fire roads, and some non-technical mountain bike trails. I had put knobby tires on my Quick and have used it. Now I find that the tires have been rubbing on my fork and have removed paint down to the carbon. A full suspension seems over the top for my needs, pricey, and difficult to find for someone 4'11" tall with a short reach. So, I am looking at hardtail bikes.

My standover is about 27.5" but I have very short arms. My Quick has a 50.5 effective top tube, which is pretty good.

So far I have found:

Specialized Myka Sport (maybe disc) that comes in a 13" size, 52.5cm top tube, and about 25.6" on standover, at $630. Or I could go as low as their non-disc, nonsport version at $470.


http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...cname=Mountain

Specialized Jett Comp, also in a 13" size, 53cm top tube (getting to be a bit much), with bout 25.6" on standover, but kind of pricey at $1250:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...cname=Mountain

Jamis Trail X2, with a 12" size, 52.1cm top tube, 25.27" standover, and inexpensive at $475, but kind of unattractive:

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebik..._trailx2f.html

A bit more out of the box, a kids mountain bike with a 12" frame, 49cm Top tube and 24 inch wheels, a Kona Kula at $949:

http://www.konaworld.com/kids.cfm?content=kula_2-4

Bikes direct has a number of possibilities in their Motobecane brand, with 52cm top tubes, and acceptable stand over at 26", but most seem to be sold out and the ones I originally looked at are now gone.

Thoughts?

EDIT: None of the bike shops within 100 miles of my current location have any of these bikes in the small size I am looking at. This has long been a problem of mine, nothing to try out.