Another vote here for more conventional bar ends mounted inboard of the grips. With your standard flat bar grips, if you try to get low/aero, your elbows end up sticking way out. Since your hands are already pretty far apart, you don't really want your elbows out any farther. That leads to pain and discomfort, and kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting low anyway. Also when I had my bar ends out at the ends of the bars, I was barely using them as again, I didn't want to place my hands even farther out (and farther from the brake levers and shifters) than they were on the regular grips.

So I moved my bar ends inboard of the grips, and now I LOVE the setup. Having something vertical to grip on lets your elbows drop down instead of out, which lets you get low and more aero, and IMHO is more comfortable than having your hands farther apart. I even use them when not trying to get aero. Also their placement lets me easily put my last two fingers on the brake levers if needed, or pull the smaller shift lever, with barely any or just very little hand movement.

Wow, thanks everyone for your great advice and words of wisdom. I'm hoping to go to my LBS tomorrow and get this situation figured out once and for all.

Keep us posted.

Hi again everyone. Ok, I finally did it. WIth the help of my LBS, I cut my handlebar so it is a more comfortable and natural postion and I am not so stretched out anymore. I tilted the drop bar ends a bit to give a feeling of "hoods". I also lowered the handlebars a bit so I'm not in such an upright position. These changes, combined with my very first pair of clipless pedals, I had a great ride today! On my way to work this morning (about 11 mile trip), my avg. speed was about 14.9mph, whereas before I was in the neighborhood of 13 - 13.5 mph. I did a bit of a longer ride on the way home (16 miles) and had a great time. These adjustments have really helped so far. Here are some photos of the new set up. Everyone have a great evening!

It looks quite good, well done.

I am glad that worked out for you as well as it worked out for me.

What kind of grips/covers did you place on the new bar-ends? LBS did a great job!!

The grips are just foam grips for now. I need to get some bar tape to go over it I think, but it is mighty comfy riding with the foam

Yes...I can also imagine what they will feel like if they get soaked in the middle of your ride.

Yikes! I hope you never have an emergency stop while down in those drops.

Take a look at this discussion before you make any decisions.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s-to-Drop-Bars

when I added bolt on drop bar ends to my hybrid it was immediately obvious that the angle of the bars caused my arm position discomfort. the ultimate solution was coverting to drop bars. my hybrid with drop bars is pretty cool and very comfortable. I used it as my main commuter year round for well over 12 months. I have a road bike now but can't bring myself to sell the roadified hybrid commuter. besides, who would buy it?

Looks good, Ive ordered some for my hybrid as I know i need drops.