Trekking bars
 

Searching the other threads on trekking bars I didn't really find the answers I was looking for.

It's winter, there's snow and ice, which means the available hand positions I have for riding drop to 1 on the flat bars. On clear pavement (on the MUP, never in traffic) I'd ride with my palms resting over the ends of the grips as with bars ends, with my thumbs resting on the brake levers. This was a very comfortable position but incredibly unsafe now that the road conditions are bad.

Also, my commute into work is at a slight incline the whole five miles, and I'm ALWAYS facing a headwind which at times is absolutely brutal. The extra hand positions and more aero position of the trekking bars would be a blessing.

I'm set on buying the Nashbar Trekking bar, but I had a few questions about the stem. I know some had replaced their stems with one 10mm longer when switching from flat bars to the Nashbar trekking, but I'm curious as to whether this places the rear portion (the open end) at the same position as the flat bar was or a little bit further back.

I don't want to be noticeably more upright or feel cramped when at the brakes, but I don't want to be stretched out too far either. Would an extra 10mm (I have a 110mm stem currently) do the trick?

Also, any MTB stem would work on my hybrid, correct? Thanks.

I'm thinking about doing gel grips under shellacked black cork for the grip. Maybe I'll switch to amber shellacked yellow cork if I ever do something crazy like add a a honey Brooks B17 to my daily commuter...

I had the Nashbar ones on my Xtracycle and loved them. The easiest and cheapest thing to do is if you are set on buying them, buy them. Use them with your current stem and see how they feel to you. If you feel after you have used them you need a longer stem, then you have an idea of how much longer a new stem should be. I had a 12 mile round trip commute and the way in was on a flat open road, headwind the whole way. I would just use the bars themselves like aero bars and hold on to the top and duck down. My normal position was on the sides, kinda like the hoods of a drop bar. That was really comfortable.