Why so many? I dunno, maybe cuz they're cheaper to make. Must've been a hay day for the big bike companies when flat bars were really big. Then all the big shot MTBers had to get back into risers in the late 90s so the bike marketers had to start putting risers on all their bikes.

I've ridden drops on mellow trail rides even some technical sections, but the rough stuff is 1,000,000 times better on a flat bar. I did some offroad action with my Nitto Promenade bars and bent them upon landing a small jump.

I remember back in the day there was even a company that made a completely flat bar, that's right 0 degrees of sweep. I wish those were still around.

But yeah, after about 1.5 miles of road riding on a flat bar bike and I'm ready to throw my bike into the bushes and sit on the side of the road crying like a baby.