The best bicycle for me?

[bangsportscards]

Again I come here to gather feedback from the broad SCF community as every little bit of input helps. I'm looking to upgrade bikes and have a back up bicycle ready if need be. I bike around town mainly for the exercise. Right now my longest journey is 5 miles one way to the gym. But I may want to bike longer routes in the future, who knows?

I bought my current bike for $20 & it's a blue Huffy. This thing has worked out decently thus far and it does show good use plus wear. I understand a Huffy to be probably one of the lower end bikes that one can buy? I travel mainly on the side of busy roads, sometimes on the pavement but many times on the hard ground/grass.

So taking into consideration three important things; 1) the surface I ride on, 2) the amount of use, & 3) a budget of say $100 or less what suggestions are out there of a path to take? Do I scope out Craigslist? Perhaps the flea market will work? Buy one new at a retail place like Walmart? Would a bike shop have one at this price point? Etc.

I want to make the ride as easy as possible while hopefully sticking to an unofficial budget and as such am open to your bike buying tips.

Thanks,

Brian