Originally Posted by
mijome07
For most of the countries where people cycle in large numbers a tourer *is* what you'd call a hybrid, fitted with euro-style trekking bars - flat bars with built in extensions. The drop handle bike that you think of as a tourer is a nostalgia piece produced in tiny numbers.
I would think of those *bikes you speak of* as commuter bikes.
I'm sure that you think a lot of things, but I'm puzzled why you think anyone would care.
Trekking bars are designed for (doh!) trekking/touring and that's how Europeans use them. They'd be lousy bars for the typical European urban commute because the extra positions aren't needed for short journeys and they take your hands away from the levers.
Cf flats and trekkers:
Trekking bar positions:
