bwalsh,
What region do you live in?
I might be selling my 04 Diamondback Outlook soon, once my new bike is in at the shop...about 2 weeks. If your in area, send me a PM, and I'll tell ya more...the bike's had some nice upgrades to it.
If your not in area, just go to an LBS and look for either a DB Outlook or a Raleigh M20. Both are entry level bikes, but are rather solid in terms of quality....oh and they hold up nicely to being pushed up to 20-25mph...the feel of the bike at that speed was actually quite comfortable. Try that with a wally world bike and the resulting ride will prolly scare you more than anything. And both are found new for about $180-220.
At the least compare the components in bikes from those places. You will notice the threaded handlebar stems are beefier in the bike shop bike...and considering the handlebars are one of the weight bearing parts...it should be beefy. The crankarms are separate units from the bottom bracket, and also again of better build. Better drivetrain components. alloy wheels as opposed to steel, this makes a noticable difference in braking as well since brake pads grip aluminum betterr then steel.
Really, the differences are huge.
If you want to see the bikes online, here you go:
DB Outlook:
http://www.diamondback.com/items.asp?deptid=9&itemid=94
raleigh M20:
http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?...temid=164&va=0