Another consideration is the Fuji Absolute line of bikes. Very nice, and a good buy for the money. I'm not personally a fan of flat bar bikes...but maybe you'll be okay with that set up.

Color is NOT a petty reason to choose or eliminate a bike choice. Many things on a bike can be changed very easily...but color is not one of those things. If an ugly colored frame sports more of the components I want...but a frame that I like the appearance of does not, I'll go with the visually appealing frame. Realistically factor in the cost of new component buys, but switching some parts is a fairly easy proposition.