A buddy of mine wants to buy a new bike, and he's not sure whether to go duallie or hardtail. He's really a beginner on the mountain bike, but he is strong and will pick up technique fast. He wants to do a bit of fun XC adventure racing, but he really wants it mostly for fun, so he doesn't need a dedicated XC race bike. He wants to spend about $2000 Canadian. I have some ideas, but there are so many bikes out there now that I wanted to get some input from the brilliant minds on this forum. Please throw any bike suggestions my way, and maybe a few words on why you like that bike. Thanks ever so much.