Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

Okay, you asked for it.

If you don't know what you want, it doesn't matter what you buy. Spend 20% of your budget on the big name bike at your local shop that you like the best for that price: the ride, the color, whatever. Ride it for a while. When you have seen and experienced enough to know what you really want that you don't already have so you don't have to ask us, then spend the other 80% on your "real" bike. Not a single name recommended by someone else will satisfy you better than any other except by dumb luck. That is the bane and the beauty of good bicycles.