Originally Posted by
bassjones
If your goal is RAGBAI, stay away from hybrids. At your budget, I'd be looking for used steel road bikes from the mid-late 90s/early 2000s. One of the Lemond bikes, maybe... I'm your height and was your weight. Be watching for 60-63 cm bikes.
This is some good advice, especially if you want to do RAGBRAI next year. You could go for a cyclocross bike for a gravel grinder/adventure bike, which are similar enough to road bikes that they would be suitable for long rides like RAGBRAI, but are built a little tougher and accomodate wider wheels than most road bikes.
Here's an article on Adventure/Gravel bikes. They even suggest a Giant bike, the Giant Revolt. And a Specialized, the Diverge. They're a little more expensive than what you mention, but they might be better suited to your needs.
I wouldn't discount Road Bikes, though. You can find some road bikes with 700x28 or wider tires. My Fuji Sportif came with 700x28 tires/wheels, and it looks like it can support bigger. I got mine in April from Peformance Bikes. The 2014 came with Tiagra and disc brakes for $799.
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