RChung said "Later, when I got a TT bike, I was faster *and* more comfortable -- as long as I wasn't on anything steep or technical. So the handling can be a problem, but it's actually pretty comfortable."

Can't speak for RChung, but I can say that, for me, it's not that aero bars are any less comfortable on steep or technical terrain: they're not. It's that the aero bar setup adds just enough weight positioned high up front to feel odd if you're used to the handling with drops alone.

The effect of that setup is the same as that of a handlebar bag containing a couple of pounds of cargo on a drop bar. Not terrible - lots of riders have used such a bag over the years - but the more weight there is in the bag, the trickier the handling becomes, to the point where riding no hands is a bad idea.

The fact that aero bars affect handling in that way was driven home for me the first time I rode a set of rollers with an aero bar-equipped bike, in the days before stationary trainers were common. Ordinarily, it's easier to ride rollers no hands than with hands on the drop bars, but the added handlebar weight was enough to make riding no hands scary, and pretty much almost impossible.