Just go look for a good, older, used steel road bike. I bought a Panasonic Touring Deluxe a while back for 35$ and I'm in the process of getting fenders for it. Plenty of clearance. Probably a better bike than anything sub one grand nowadays. A lot of older road bikes have ample fender clearance. I'd agree with Helmet head on the road bike v. hybrid, but find the smaller tires make the ride rougher; I prefer 700x28 on urban bikes.