You can definitely buy a BikesDirect (or Bike Island) bike for $400 which will do what you want it to. While most people will display that elitist attitude which is So endearing, there are a few who post here who will tell you about their $395 BikesDirect Dawes which they road for 70000 trouble-free miles in a year. (I paid $500 for mine (different model) and haven’t ridden it quite that far.)
If your LBS salespeople want to be richards, then treat them as they deserve—get them to fit you for a bike of the style you want, and then buy a similar (but much cheaper) BD bike and pocket the cash with a smile.
If you are that into ti, you can look up the geometry chart of the BD bike, find a bike online from a major manufacturer with similar numbers, and “test-ride” that before buying the BD bike, secure in the knowledge that it will probably fit. (Normally I am Very against using people this way, but if they are acting like tools, tools are meant to be used.)
Or, save up another $100 and get a bike from performance Bikes or Nashbar.com—both will take back a bike with no reason needed within a year, so if it doesn’t fit, all you lose is a small restocking fee.
A Lot of people (some of them here) will tell you about how low-end stuff is garbage, but the fact is, low-end stuff today was mid-grade stuff ten years ago when they paid extra dollars to buy it for their “elite” expensive bikes.
The cheap stuff might need to be adjusted a little bit more, but it will work and it will last and if all you want to do is enjoy riding a bike and still have enough money to eat, you won’t even care.
When we were kids, we happily rode Murrays and Huffies or 36-pound Schwinns and never asked a question about who made the derailleur and how much does the stem weigh. (There is a guy who posts here, JohnnyMullet I think, who has several Huffies he rides more than some others ride their $5000 wonder-steeds.) (
http://www.bikeforums.net/members/jo...et-376137.html)
Nowadays people who have really decent bikes aren’t happy because they don’t have better bikes, and when they get the best bikes ... they get more. (I am not like that—only because I cannot afford the best bikes
)
Look over some Bikes Direct and Bike Island bikes (bikes sold for less because they are both really cheap and slightly scratched and dinged) and ask here if they are what you seem to want. Lots of folks will help.
EDIT: By the way, there are thousands of hours of video on YouTube teaching one to fix absolutely anything on a bike. You will want to at least be able to do minor adjustments or you will hate biking, because the more you ride, the more things wear out, and you don't want to drop $50 at an LBS for fifteen minute of wrench-turning and $5 in parts.
One more point: if you like biking, you will be selling your new bike or at least buying a new one within 18 months. Then you will be spending $700--$1000, will be absolutely all right with it, and will see that the old bike really wasn't bad at all.