I just bought a Rock Shox Dart 3 for my Trek 4300. I haven’t gotten to ride with it yet, but I’ve tested out a Dart 2 and it seemed pretty good, so I can only imagine the Dart 3 will be at least that good. I paid $130 for it at Beyondbikes.com, wich isn’t too expensive. Anyways I am a rookie also, so you might want to get a second opinion before taking my advice.