Originally Posted by
debit
I'd suggest you go to a bike shop, and try out different kinds of bikes. When you have an idea as to what style suits you best, start looking on Craigslist. I don't know your market, but here in Minneapolis you would probably end up using all of your budget on the bike itself. Unless the seller is one of the flippers who tune up and put new tires on each bike before selling, you'll probably want to factor in that expense too.
A cheaper, but more time consuming option would be to find a bike coop that offers classes and has an earn a bike program. You volunteer, learn about bikes, and then at the end of your designated service, ride away on a bike that you tuned up yourself. Something like this place:
http://www.cyclesforchange.org/
Thanks, I will look on craigslist and also see, if I can find any bike coop here in Bay area(Mountain View), California.