Building up a Surly Straggler single speed for commuting, running short errands, and goofing on gravel roads. My commute is 15-20 miles roundtrip, mostly flat with a few rolling hills in a college town). Planning on running 700 x 32c tires instead of the stock Knards. Due to previous sports injuries/old age, I'd prefer a more upright position (don't want to be stretched out) with some backwards reach. I'm stuck between a Wald 867 and a VO Montmartre bar. I like having a narrow bar (used to twitchy steering). Leaning more towards the Wald at the moment. Both are compatible with hydraulic discs. Any opinions or suggestions?

There are no stupid handle bar questions, only stupid handle bars.

I don't have any experience with the 2 you are looking at, but I was going to suggest a Jones Loop H bar, lots of hand positions, they are wide but you don't have to keep your hands out there all the time. And I love the albatross bars on my cross check. I use the center for a more aero/narrow position and the wide ends for upright style.

The Leader Uptown gets cut down frequently. Width is limited to levers and grip width before drop section, some into the mid 40cm range.

I know the bars that you mentioned are popular, but when I stick my arms out to grab the grips my hands are at a more natural angle on a MTB type, slightly swept back bar.

I have Nitto Albastache and Albatross bars on a couple of my bikes. I like them both but the advantage of accommodating bar end shifters would not be of interest to you. Otherwise, I highly recommend them for an upright position with room for multiple hand positions for long rides.

The thing about the Jones is that it doesn't have any rise to it.

Quoted again for truth!

It may be just me, but the hand position on the handlebars the OP names seems unnatural to me. I'd be concerned about that much angle, especially on a 20 mile round commute. I'd be tempted to try something less extreme like Soma Sparrows and see how that suits you.

Both of these appear to have the grips parallel to each other. I haven't tried that, but I think I would prefer the classic north road bend, where they are wider at the back than in the front of the grip.

Since you know you are going with an upright bar, it won't be terribly hard or expensive to experiment. Buy the Wald or the VO, and then try something else later if you want. You won't have to change brake levers or shifters.

I have north road style bars on two of my bikes, and am waiting for a chance to upgrade the third bike -- the job requires slightly longer shift cables. One bar is the original steel from my Schwinn World Tourist. The others are modern, a Velo Orange Tourist, and an Origin8 Citi Classic.

The upright posture and pronated hand position are just a lot more comfortable for me. I'm not sure I'd want the extreme of the parallel grips on that Wald bar, however. And my spouse hated the Velo Orange Tourist, so it's definitely a courses for horses thing.