For #1, nitto sells some heat treated versions of their bullhorns for about twice the price of the non-heat treated. I've never used the non-heat-treated version, but my heat treated rb-018 bars are incredibly stiff. The stresses of forming a bar can actually make the bar stiffer. It will also be a bit more brittle, but actually stiffer and harder to bend. Its why if you bend a piece of steel/brass/copper its easy to bend but really hard to straighten. The process is usually called cold working.