in my research when i bought a bike last year, i noticed that treks are overpriced with subpar components.

i ended up going with kona, which had better components and cost less than other bikes at the same level. i don't know how they'd do for your application though, and i'm not liking what they did with 2006 model for my bike -- seems they went a bit cheaper on the components.

anyway, point being, buy used, or do your research.