[QUOTE=ping jockey;14807232]

$1000 will certainly buy you a good bike. In fact it's probably a good price point for your first bike.
/QUOTE]

Actually, you could get a cheaper, name-brand hybrid for about half of that. I wouldn't recommend getting the bottom of the line, but you could get a decent starter bike for much less. Basically you could get a decent hybrid for $650 - $750. And, the difference between it and the high-end, $1,000 version of the same model would usually be in replaceable components. So, as you ride, and decide you want better, you could upgrade to the $1,000 version or even better...

Road bikes tend to be more expensive than hybrids.

And the best of both worlds is, well, both....