What you want is a "touring bike" which has a different frame and is designed for carrying stuff, with connection points for attaching racks. Road bikes and mountain bikes get squirrelly if you load them down, and usually don't have enough connection points for racks. Some hybrids would make good touring bikes, some won't.
Chromoly steel frames are best for heavy usage. Aluminum and carbon fiber frames can suffer from stress fatigue. Aluminum frames have to be really heavy to stand up to hard use because any flexing in the frame will cause stress fatigue. Then they need front and rear suspension to smooth out the ride which adds to the weight. A good steel frame doesn't need a suspension because the steel can flex without developing stress fatigue. This keeps the weight down and keeps the bike simple.
A good entry level steel frame hybrid bike is the Trek 700. They are no longer made but you should be able to find a used one fairly cheap. Here is one on EBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trek-Multi-...757?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item2a31e95175
I got a used one for my son and my wife appropriated it because it was so comfortable to ride. It came with Michelin tires which have not had a flat yet. Even though it is a 700c hybrid, the Trek 700 I bought is an older one made like an old school mountain bike with a freewheel hub, quill stem, grip shifters and center pull caliper brakes.
"Modern" hybrids have cassette hubs, threadless stems, trigger shifters and V-Brakes. Some Trek 700s have trigger shifters.
Jamis makes some excellent, and relatively inexpensive steel frame bikes. I have a Coda Comp, which is the middle of the road Coda model. The high end is the Coda Elite with disc brakes which I didn't want. The entry level model is the Coda Sport:
http://www.myjamis.com/SSP Applications/JamisBikes/MyJamis/consumer/bike.html?year=2013&model=Coda Sport&cat_grp=strt_2
My daughter and I were both having a lot of flats at one time. I got her some Gatorskin hardshells, and I put some cheap Chinese kevlar belted tires on my bike and we haven't had a flat since. Check with a good bike shop and they should be able to find you some inexpensive kevlar tires.
My online source is Nashbar:
http://www.nashbar.com
Chromoly steel frames are best for heavy usage. Aluminum and carbon fiber frames can suffer from stress fatigue. Aluminum frames have to be really heavy to stand up to hard use because any flexing in the frame will cause stress fatigue. Then they need front and rear suspension to smooth out the ride which adds to the weight. A good steel frame doesn't need a suspension because the steel can flex without developing stress fatigue. This keeps the weight down and keeps the bike simple.
A good entry level steel frame hybrid bike is the Trek 700. They are no longer made but you should be able to find a used one fairly cheap. Here is one on EBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trek-Multi-...757?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item2a31e95175
I got a used one for my son and my wife appropriated it because it was so comfortable to ride. It came with Michelin tires which have not had a flat yet. Even though it is a 700c hybrid, the Trek 700 I bought is an older one made like an old school mountain bike with a freewheel hub, quill stem, grip shifters and center pull caliper brakes.
"Modern" hybrids have cassette hubs, threadless stems, trigger shifters and V-Brakes. Some Trek 700s have trigger shifters.
Jamis makes some excellent, and relatively inexpensive steel frame bikes. I have a Coda Comp, which is the middle of the road Coda model. The high end is the Coda Elite with disc brakes which I didn't want. The entry level model is the Coda Sport:
http://www.myjamis.com/SSP Applications/JamisBikes/MyJamis/consumer/bike.html?year=2013&model=Coda Sport&cat_grp=strt_2
My daughter and I were both having a lot of flats at one time. I got her some Gatorskin hardshells, and I put some cheap Chinese kevlar belted tires on my bike and we haven't had a flat since. Check with a good bike shop and they should be able to find you some inexpensive kevlar tires.
My online source is Nashbar:
http://www.nashbar.com