Had both, depends on the bars your gonna chop and flip, some are better than others, the old schwinn steel ones are usually pretty good, the curve is in the right place and I like the reach better than TT bars, plus they are very very stiff. I find that if the handlebar flexes when im either sprinting or taking off from a stop to be very annoying, and most alloy TT bars arent very stiff.You can fit a brake lever to homemade bullhorns quite easily.Given the choice, I will take homemade over reg TT bars.