Originally Posted by
mcours2006
You seem to be drawn to the road bike but you stated you wanted a hybrid.
The Scott is a decent buy for that price. That's the one I'd pick for your budget. A triplex8 is enough gearing to get you up most hills and versatile for all round riding.
Have you ridden a drop bar road bike before? You may not find the position very comfortable if this is your first bike.
Edit:
Damn! Beat me to it, tjspiel.
Just another note about Denalis. They look a lot like any other road bike but they cost a ton less for a reason. Many people are quite happy with them but if you can afford something better I would go for it.
I don't want to start a frame material war especially since I'm mostly neutral on the subject. However, a nice feature on an aluminum road bike is a carbon fork. If the frame is steel then a steel fork is fine.
The Denali is an aluminum frame with a steel fork I believe. It's also not a particularly light aluminum frame so it seems like your giving up the potential advantages of aluminum while still being stuck with its disadvantages. The steel fork mitigates the ride quality problem a little but makes the weight problem worse.