Hello All: I am hoping to buy a bike soon and need some info on what to purchase.

Some background – I have owned two bikes in the past however they have both been cheep used hand me down heavy “mountain bikes” ( I put that in quotes because I don’t know that they were really mountain bikes). With these bikes I did a mixture of trail riding and urban riding (day long rides through Houston). I know nothing of bike brands, bike technology, or really bike anything; I just know that I used to have a BLAST riding my old POS’s and I’m ready to buy a new bike.

I’m looking for a bike that I can use for short transportation yet take on long rough rides through the city, and also take it off the cement and down some dirt hills if I want. I know that’s allot to ask of a bike but I’m sure there has to be something. I’m not sure which sub-forum to put my request in so Ill just drop it here and maybe someone can direct me to the right forum or even suggest some bike manufactures I can check out.

Oh yeah I hope to spend under 500.00 dollars on said bike.

Thanks

neilp