That Vilano is actually a horrible price for cheap bikes. It's pretty much no better than a GMC Denali and those go for $160 new, usually $100 on craigslist. If you're not hung up on having dropbars, walmart has the genesis gs-700 on rollback from $180 to just $130 http://www.walmart.com/ip/22.5-Genes...-Bike/20658228.

For something in the $300 range, you want to look at the windsor wellington 2.0 http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ington2_IX.htm. For any of the sub $200 bikes, the most you give up is probably a sealed bottom bracket. Instead they'll have cones with ball bearings which does not stand up to being left outside or ridden through wet conditions as well as a sealed unit. That's assuming it was even greased at the factory.

The cheaper the bike you get the greater the risk something wasn't assembled correctly. And if you order from Bikesdirect/Nashbar/Amazon/Walmart, remember not to install the fork backwards. For the volume of riding you described, $600 is way overkill unless you plan to keep using it for DECADES.