I was considering converting my Univega Via Carisma to drop bars.
A friend talked me into trying albatross or North Roads bars, upright or flipped, instead. I borrowed a set of Nitto albatross bars from him. Going on two weeks now, experimenting with flipped and upright.
I'm sold. No need to convert to drop bars. The albatross does what I wanted, with fewer parts replacements. More hand positions than the flat and riser bars I'd been using. Much more comfortable on my shoulder (broken and dislocated after I was hit by a car a few months ago). More natural hand/wrist/forearm alignment, very comparable to riding the hoods and drops of drop bars.
My original brake levers work fine. Unfortunately both sets of the old Shimano STI thumb shifters broke, but I had a set of cheap SunRace friction thumbies in a box, and they work. I mounted 'em close to the stem. Eventually I'll replace 'em with bar end shifters -- more natural leverage, no need to shift my hands, and I can wrap the rest of the albatross bar with tape for more comfortable hand positions.
After my shoulder heals I may try flipping the albatross bar again. For now it's upright. But I'll probably switch from the original up-angled quill stem with built-in cantilever brake cable hanger to a road bike stem and separate cable hanger a bit lower on the stem or head tube to get the brake cable loop out of the way.