I used to bike everyday mostly up hills on a not so smooth road and I loved it and I had a old bike probably around 10 years old and every other day it felt like it was breaking in one way or another (it was a mountain bike)

And so now I haven't used a bike in over a year and need a new one

I was looking into hybrid bikes and they look right up my alley but I can't find one that isn't 800$ originally I was thinking under 300$ but now they are looking more like 500$ which is a little high for me

I am open to other types of bikes but I hate how heavy mountain bikes are