I have rode an iron horse before and it was sweat, Only rode 1 giant in my life and it was pretty ancient but seemed like a quality bike. Someone else mentioned Kona earlier and I cant say anything but good things about all of their bikes that I have seen, but then again I dont think I have ever seen one under about $2000 US. Probably the best bike I have ever rode was a $5000 or so Cannondale. Top notch all the way around but couldnt tell you the model. It was one of the ones that had the single arm fork in the front, not even sure they make those any more. Ran into a guy that worked at the shop I bought mine from one day riding it. It was a rental from the shop he was trying out. Took it off some crazy jumps. He let me ride it for about 10 minutes but I was too afraid to come off any big jumps with it. something about that single arm on the fork made me nervous. [surrender]