I would recommend a Schmelke cue. They provide most of the shaft maple used by most of the major cue manufacturers like Schon and Viking. You can get a Schmelke for 80-150$ direct from the factory and cheaper used on ebay or craigslist.
http://www.schmelkecue.com/ I would avoid the fiberglass and graphite cues as well as the one pieces as they aren't very portable. The BR series has a couple that run $105-$125 as does the K, M, R, S, & SP series.
Nice all wood hand crafted nice shaft straight etc... You want one with the "Kiln dried Canadian Maple Shaft with pro taper" which is what they sell to other cuemakers. The cuemakers then add all of the inlays and designs and wraps on the butt which is where the money comes in to play. Schmelke construction, balance and playability are fine they just make some real basic cues as well as fancier.
Oddly enough 4-5 of the major cuemakers are based out of Wisconsin Schon in Milwaukee, Viking is in Madison, Schmelke is north of rice lake in the middle of BFE. At least one other major cuemaker is based in Wi also.