hokiefyd 

I think this is where H-bars, trekking bars, butterfly bars, etc, begin to make a lot of sense. I do like a bit of a rise to a handlebar, but I REALLY like a backsweep. My fists are at about a 45 degree angle off vertical, so one of those bars probably makes a lot of sense for me. My Trek Verve has about 10 degress of backsweep, which I find much more comfortable than straight bars. But...it's going to be different for everyone, I presume.

If drop bars weren't such a financial investment (requires different shifters, etc), I wouldn't mind trying a set with a riser stem. I'm probably more likely to try trekking bars first, because I can using my existing shifters and brake levers.

coominya

I owned a racer for a while but it wasn't my thing though I like shorter bars than are on our current crop of hybrids. I think you really need short bars to have them straight, as you point out, as our arms go wider, the angle of contact increases. I should have mentioned this in my earlier posts. I cut my straight bar down to 22.5 inches and the riser swept back bar it replaced was 27.5 inches