My first bike (in 2008) was a 2007 Schwinn Fastback Sport. It cost $640 shipped, and I bought it because consumer reports gave it a good rating.

Even though it was a Schwinn, it was a decent bike. It had an 8 speed Sora/Tiagra mix (only thing Tiagra was the RD), with Tektro brakes and (I think) cheap Truvativ or FSA cranks. Sora shifted fine, and the bike felt pretty solid/stiff. I did a lot of greenway rides on it that summer before I sold it and got a 2008 CAAD9 R6 (full Tiagra).

The reason I bought it was because I wanted something faster than my 2007 Gary Fisher Wahoo, which I kind of regret selling. That bike was fun with the 26x1.5" slicks and thumb shifters. It was the first bike I bought, and I was amazed on how well bikes could shift (compared to crappy untuned Walmart bikes).