hey, i'm no expert, but first off, i'm fimiliar with a bike that meets the expectations u were looking for in your first post, that's not too pricy depending on where u go to get it either, it's the diamondback overdrive; it's a hardtail 29er with a rock shocks dart3 fork that has preload, rebound, and lockout adjustments on it. it also comes with mechanical disc brakes, and the 08 and 09 models are basically the same just with different colors, so as your looking around at stores u could see if they have that one and see how you like that.