Good components, no Megarange cassette but a full range of useful gears. Trigger shifters work better than the gripshift he had on the Specialized Hot Rock 20 even though I upgraded that to SRAM X9.
With 27 gears he can finally climb some serious stuff.

Narrow rims and tyres (1.85") compared to the 2.1" he had on the HR 20. Comes without water bottle holder, standard pedals were a bit small, swapped them for some serious platform pedals.

The Kula 24 is a serious bike and comes with good components. Wwith this bike he can really ride with me even on steep stuff and longer trails. It's no cheap bike but well worth it.