Originally Posted by tony_merlino

What I'm looking for (I have a thread going on this topic on the FiftyPlus forum), are handlebars that allow an aero, or fairly aero position, that offer several hand positions, but that also offer a really upright position for relief. The need comes from having worsening stenosis and arthritis in my neck, which makes long rides very painful, with the pain persisting for weeks (making all riding uncomfortable).

One of the configurations I was thinking about was kind of like "bum bars" made from standard drop bars, flipped so that the ends pointed forward, but instead of the 90 degree bend from the bar top to the inverted drops, it would be more like something between 30 and 45 degrees. The ends of the bars would point forward and towards the stem. The point would be that you'd mostly ride on the tops or on the lower part of the inverted drops, but could use the high part to relieve the stretching of the neck. Another way to describe this would be that they'd be sort of like butterfly bars mounted so the orientation of the "wings" was vertical, and sort of flapping towards you.

There are some other configurations I've been playing with mentally, but I was going to try this last one by modifying some old drop bars that I have. Once I read about aluminum fatigue and catastrophic failure, though, I haven't been as eager to try it...