vsanthos

I got into riding about a month or two ago. I wasn't going too far, probably putting in 2-3 miles a day at first but it was slowly growing. Then last Thursday night my chain broke and bent a few gears. Seeing as the bike was too small for me (gift from a friend about 6 years ago that I never touched until recently) I didn't see it worth investing too much time or money into. (Yes, I know fixing it may be the most efficient option... I'm just trying to explore more options first!)

Anyhow my question is more for opinions than fact. My budget (if I stretched it as far as it could possibly go) is about $300. I'm hoping to find a used bike for a lot less than that. I have a nice deal on craigslist fall through recently which increased my fervor for finding a bike a bit more. Not being able to go riding kind of depresses me! I was previously looking for a hybrid or mountain bike but the only off-roading I do is to get out of the way of a car or bus. I never considered a road bike until I was scanning the stickies in this forum. I see a lot of road bikes on craigslist that seem to be in acceptable shape for a very cheap price. But would a stock road bike be able to get me by for the time being or would the tires buckle under my tremendous girth? (about 330lbs right now) I'm about to be jobless and have nothing lined up immediately so the cheapest I can get myself back on to a bike, the better.