Hi, new to the forum so please bear with me. I am in the market for a new bike for general recreational use and light touring. Most of the designated 'touring bikes' seem to come with drop handles which I do not find comfortable and I am looking for something with a flat handle bar.
For background, I have done some longer touring back in the day (parts of Australia, New Zealand and Europe) as well as shorter credit card tours in recent years. I am 50+ and looking to doing more trips as semi retirement approaches but will likely keep the load light ie rear panniers & handlebar bag only. I am 5'8", 130 lbs in case that is a factor.
Besides flat bar handles, some other features I have been looking at are: 3 chain ring for low gearing on hills, longer chainstay for heel clearance on rear panniers; lighter weight since I don't plan on being fully loaded, yet still durable for recreational riding on trails/paths; disk brakes? - I like the idea of them but have no experience with them. Wheels - 700 x 32?
Other components - suggestions? Since I hope to use this bike a lot in the coming years, I am willing to purchase higher quality parts (within reason)
So, is a performance hybrid the way to go? Some of the ones I have been reading about are the Specialized Sirrus models, the Giant Escape, Brodie Energy, Devinci Oslo, Kona Dew & Trek Fx series. Any comments on these brands or other suggestions welcomed.
Thank you

Hybrids in general make good touring bikes because of their relatively 'relaxed' geometry, ie comfort, and low granny gear. Augment the flat bar with bar ends and maybe an aerobar. I consider an aerobar essential on a DF for long saddle days. Great position in head winds and for hill climbing. Also, light, narrow tires for more responsiveness and therefore more fun. You really don't need wide, heavy tires for loaded touring on pavement.

A time trial bike(light, aerobars, 23 mm tires) pulling a light trailer is a reasonably comfortable, very responsive touring combo. And a fast, fun ride when not touring. If touring in an area where the climbs don't exceed about 4% grade, you probably won't have to modify the gearing..I'm 72 and just discovered this a year ago. Don't dismiss the idea without investigating it.

For ultimate comfort, go recumbent.

Same here. I just turned 50 and won't tour without aerobars. Makes a big difference for me.

Hybrids are nice if you jump a lot of curbs. Not so easy with drop bars.

Canuckrider, No reason to dismiss a hybrid for touring. A set of bar ends are a very good suggestion, aero bars are more optional IMHO. I'd also make sure that the bike has upper and lower provisions for mounting a rack.

Brad

The hybrids are what I have been looking at since "touring"bikes don't come with Flat bar handles. Any recommendations of Hybrid models to consider?
And yes I was planning to get bar ends.

Probably bad form on my part to mention it, but have you tried a touring model with the bars set to the same height as the saddle, or perhaps a bit higher? If you've got a nearby bike shop with touring bikes, you might ask them if you could try one set up like that. I know, it's hard to find a touring bike in most bike shops, and most of those have been set up to look like racing bikes with the bars slammed down as far as they can go. But many, if not most, of the problems with drop bars seem to correlate with low bars and inflexible riders. Try one with a short and high stem, and you might like it.

I'll try that out - when this damn snow goes away!

While I might lean towards the Trek and Giant, any on your list are worthy.

Brad

Go test ride bikes .. change components if you want different stuff, it's interchangeable parts.

figure 8 bend trekking bars , held at the front ,
and bending my elbows,
gets the same bent over low , to reduce the frontal area , in a headwind, posture.

works fine in my experience.