I developed severe back and neck problems so had to go to upright position on my road bike (didn't have the money to buy new bike). Pulled the bars, stem, brake levers and cables off as one assembly and put aside in case I wanted to return bike to original. Replaced these items with suitable components including cut/fitting new cables/housing. Only took about an hour, but I had the replacements at hand. I got everything from parts bin/donor bikes (used new cables) so cost was minimal. Could get expensive if using new parts. Nice part is I can return bike to original easily and quickly. PS forgot to mention I had stem shifters so left them alone and just slid to old ones onto the new stem.