No, I'm not going for the messenger look - just trying to be more comfortable. I was planning to go up and a little back via the stem route - I'm buying a "touring stem" . But the stem on this bike is already fairly short. The issue is that the drops put the brakes maybe 2-3 inches in front of the stem. I'm trying to also gain back those inches - the flat bar would bring the brakes all the way back to the stem.

I've also considered (and not ruled out) the flip & chop bullhorn bar, which I could make out of the existing drops. The bike has stem shifters, which I'm happy enough with, so that's definitely a possibility. Since they continue to use the road levers, does that really bring the brakes closer? Or just higher? And, if I decided to put mountain levers on the tops, they'd be REALLY close together, which I thought might be an issue.

As I said, the main issue is that, in the kind of dense, low-speed traffic I'm in a lot, I'm having to be on the brakes a lot, and being down that low and having to extend my neck back is getting really painful. Not to mention that the visibility of traffic really stinks when I'm down that low. (The environment isn't Manhattan urban, but is pretty urban by most standards.)

I plan to get the bar tops a couple of inches above the seat, and to bring the brakes closer. The point of the bar ends was to orient them upward to give me a way to get much more upright, just to rest my neck from time to time, when I don't need to be on top of the brakes. I'm not looking for beach cruiser upright - just not so aggressively roadie.

But I think you answered my question - the width of the distance between the shoulder blades + 4. Thanks!