My bike came standard with "ergo" shaped bars that have a flat top to the hoods with a very long reach, then this basically straight down section, to an almost unusable drop that is basically 45 degrees. WHAT THE HELL?! This is the farthest thing from "ergo" that I can imagine. The curve isn't dramatic enough, the drop is very far, and the angles just seem all wrong. They are very uncomfortable, most positions are almost unusable, and I HATE THEM. I have tried like umpteen different bar/hood positions, including riding around for a week with no tape basically moving stuff every time I got on the bike. It was a HUGE PITA and I'm basically back where I started.

If I rotate the bars so that the drops are usable, there is a major downslope on the "shoulders" to the hoods, which makes a very sharp angle at the transition, causing wrist pain when on the hoods. Also, it puts the brifters in an odd location that is unnatural to use when on the lower positions. The middle section of the "drops" in this position is almost 45 degrees and almost unusable unless I fold VERY far forward.

If i rotate the bar so the tops and shoulders are flat to the hoods, the flats are very long and it almost makes me want to swap stems to adjust the reach. In this orientation the middle section of the drops is totally vertical and unusable, and the lower drops are at 45 degrees, causing an unnatural bend in the wrist and making them basically unusable.

Additionally these are 42cm bars with a 25.4 clamp, and I feel they are definitely a bit too narrow for my shoulder width. I think I need a 44 or even a 46cm, but I can't find anything in a shape I like with a small clamp diameter, and I don't want to have to buy new stems (I have like 6 different lengths at the moment allowing me to fine tune my reach, and they would be very expensive to replace).

I like the shape of more modern short reach compact drop bars, and I like to change hand positions a lot. I commute about 15 miles round trip, and do 30 mile rides on the weekends with the occasional club ride or race. I like to use my drops AND hoods, and don't want to have to tweak my setup for every ride. I can't find anything at a reasonable price (under $40), with a 25.4 clamp, with the width I'm looking for (at least 44cm). Any suggestions? Any specific make/model I might like? Do I bite the bullet on the stems and just get a bigger clamp diameter and more expensive bars? Should I just bend the bars I have? Should I throw them in the garbage and learn to ride a unicycle?