Bill Gem

Retro Grouch 

Not a feel that I personally like but you may feel differently.

Everything on a bicycle works together so you can almost never change just one part. Plan on having to buy new longer cables and housings for sure. New brake levers, shifters and hand grips may or may not be necessary too.

Since your hand position is being moved so much, your stem, the part that holds your handlebar onto the rest of the bike, might need a change too. Stems come in lots of different lengths and rises and getting that combination just right is really important.

Paul Barnard

I built my wife a performance cruiser. I started with a lightweight flatbar road bike. I added a stem raiser, a high rise stem and bars with both rise and sweep. Now she has the cruiser ergos she loves in a lightweight bike. Retro is right about the cables. My wife's shifter cables are pulled a touch too tight. They work fine, but really should be replaced.

Rootman

I did on one bike years ago. I went through a period of bad back pain and riding flat bars just was too much leaning forward. It was a hassle getting all the cables right and it never felt as good on the brakes as it did originally and shifting was spongy as well. This may also have something to do with the quality of the cables as well as to the added length. Steering became real slow as the center line of the steering axis (is that the right term?) was now slightly behind the head tube rather than in front of it. You really had to reach when doing tight corners, which negated the desire to keep more upright, I generally let go with the opposite hand and steered only with the other. It worked, but I can't say it was all the pleasant an experience.

Bill Gem

Jimbo47

Changing to a swept back bar will cause you to sit more upright which will probably cause the need for a different seat such as a cruiser seat, which is wider and more suited for upright peddling.
Platform pedals will help as well, allowing you to slow down and smell the roses.

hillyman

The Jones bars come up here now and then. The cool way to have sweeps now. Look good on a hardtail mountain bike. Wasn't to my liking but some love them.

fietsbob

noglider 

It's a radical change. It changes the personality (bikality?) of the bike.

I've done lots of experiments with handlebars on this bike. I don't know where some pictures are. I had traditional drop bars on it, and I'm about to put mustache bars on it. I had the swept back handlebars on flipped up and flipped down.

stanman13

I rode this Giant Iguana for many years with the original flat bars. Old-style flat bars- no rise, no sweep, nothing. When I let my son take over this bike he hated the flat bars. So we fit it with North Roads. The steering came out a little twitchy with the original stem. It also looked goofy with that black steel angled stem leading to the swoopy North Roads. After a bit of experimentation, we finally disovered that what was needed was a short Technomic. 60mm x 225mm. For some reason that settled the steering down. I can't begin to explain the physics of why, but it works for this bike and his fit.

LesterOfPuppets

I've done cruiser bars - too wide. Nitto Porteur, too narrow and low. Surly Open Bar - pretty nice.

I'd love to do Jones risers but a little pricey.

Paul Barnard

I am struggling to picture this. Wouldn't that be a function of width rather than rearward sweep?

Gresp15C

I love swept bars. I've fitted them on all but one of my bikes. They predate "cruiser" bikes by decades.

I don't like drops -- my neck don't bend that way no more. I don't like straight bars -- they pound the hell out of my wrists. I can ride swept bars for miles and miles. My preference is to have them roughly level with the top of the saddle, so I'm not sitting bolt upright.

You can get a lot of variety in swept bars, in terms of rise, sweep, and width. Niagara Cycle has a few types under "cruiser" bars for under 10 bucks before shipping. It doesn't seem to take a huge amount of sweep to get the comfort benefit compared to straight bars.

Conversion from a straight bar bike is easy, except that you might need to install longer cables. Some older bars don't have a lot of space for grips, brake levers, and shifters. Newer bars tend to have a longer straight section to accommodate those parts.

Conversion from a drop bar bike may require replacing all of your controls, which can get expensive.

When I tried riding my mountain bike with swept bars, the torque from going over bumps made the bike want to pull the grips out of my hands. I think that too much sweep is probably not a good idea for MTB.

Trevtassie

I've tried butterflies, Crazy Bars and Jones. Butterflies are OK for strictly road riding, but are too narrow off road. I like Jones the best, but because they are so wide you need to watch cable lengths. Crazy bars are a good cheaper version of Jones, and there is less need to change anything to make them fit since they are narrower than Jones, especially if you already have 25.4 bars. A set of grips to suit swept bars, like the Ergon GC1 are worthwhile

canklecat

I've already switched my hybrid from flat to riser bars with slight back sweep. After I recover from this busted shoulder I'll be switching to swept back bars. Better ergonomically for my shoulder. The neutral forearm/wrist position makes more efficient use of the pectoral and triceps muscles. That's one reason why many folks prefer drop bars even if they raise the handlebar to saddle height or higher. The pronated forearm/wrist position is pretty good for quick reactions, but less efficient over longer rides.

With swept back bars that aren't as wide as beach cruisers, they're pretty aero too. The upper arms are tucked into the chest. After a friend swapped from flat to albatross and North Roads bars on his hybrids, I had more trouble keeping up with him while I was on my hybrids with flat and riser bars. His underarms weren't catching the wind like I was. He looked more relaxed too, especially over longer rides.

Rootman

Yes, swept bars are typically wider, at least the ones I chose were.