I just bought a Specialized Crosstrail like the one you mentioned and been riding for 2 weeks now. So far I have about 35 miles on it and really enjoy riding it. Only change I made for it to really feel good to me with a pretty inexpensive adjustable stem to raise the handlebars up some and added a set of Shimano M324 clipless pedals (I really didn't need to do this but got a great deal on them so decided to give it a try) but I was plenty happy with just the stem. Overall it's a really fun bike. I enjoy having hydraulic disk brakes as I have never owned a bike with disk brakes and really like them. I have no issues with the front suspension fork as it soaks up the smaller stuff and don't give me any bounce when really pedaling hard so for me I like having it as the little extra weight isn't a big deal to me.