I am casually looking for an inexpensive mountain bike that would be more suitable than my Cannondale Quick for ratty dirt roads, fire roads, and some non-technical mountain bike trails. I had put knobby tires on my Quick and have used it. Now I find that the tires have been rubbing on my fork and have removed paint down to the carbon. 
My standover is about 27.5" but I have very short arms. My Quick has a 50.5 effective top tube, which is pretty good.
So far I have found:
Specialized Myka Sport (maybe disc) that comes in a 13" size, 52.5cm top tube, and about 25.6" on standover, at $630. Or I could go as low as their non-disc, nonsport version at $470.
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specialized.com...cname=MountainOpen ↗
Specialized Jett Comp, also in a 13" size, 53cm top tube (getting to be a bit much), with bout 25.6" on standover, but kind of pricey at $1250:
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A bit more out of the box, a kids mountain bike with a 12" frame, 49cm Top tube and 24 inch wheels, a Kona Kula at $949:
Bikes direct has a number of possibilities in their Motobecane brand, with 52cm top tubes, and acceptable stand over at 26", but most seem to be sold out and the ones I originally looked at are now gone.
Thoughts?