I feel like a snob for asking this, but here goes.

Am I the only one who think handle-bars angled like this are ugly? It just looks like something is bent the wrong way:




It seems that a very similar position could be effected by flipping the stem down, and then rotating the hoods up like this:



...and to me, it looks way better. When I was bike shopping this summer, and seeing pictures of bikes the first way, I just thought: "that's an ugly bike!" I had to try to make myself look at the rest of the bike and realize that could be changed. Perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way, but if I'm not, you'd think a certain online bike seller would try to re-position the bars for the picture, right?

DISCLAIMER: I'm no bike expert, and I'm sure there are some comfort/fit reasons for doing this, but surely making the bike look good is more important! :-)

in the first photo the levers are too low, and the bars are rotated up to compensate.

The second photo will never look right but that is because of the hideous handlebar choice.

The angled stem is for fit. Sometimes it is needed. Handlebars however, should be level regardless of the stem angle.

There is a trend to angle bars up to match the slope of the top tube and I've seen some radically sloped bars. Even manufacturers are doing it from the factory and it is ugly as sin.

no, you're not the only one, i think they (the ones in the first pic) look a little goofy too.

Flip it.

when bikes come from the factory, the handlebars aren't usually attached to the stem. Final assembly is done by the mechanic at your LBS.

Flipping the bar will lose you about 25 mm of bar height that has to be made up somewhere...or not. But if you need the height and have already cut the steerer, you are stuck. Also even if the steerer is uncut, if that 25 mm of extra spacers would out you over 40 total, that is not recommended. Stems are flipped up for a reason. Form follows function, not aesthetics, for best results.

I don't think either of the two photos are quite right.
The lower picture is better, but the levers are a bit too high on the bars.

A 6/84 stem looks OK flipped either way to me. Some of the more extreme angles look jacked up.

1. I agree about the ugly ergo bars in picture two. I'm just focusing on the relative straightness of the line from the stem to the bars to the hoods.

2. To me, the ugliest possible combination is a sharply up-slanted stem with a sharply down-pointing bars. It looks like the bars are trying to break off of the stem.

Pictured that way on the manufacturer's websites. Some are better than others.

Big retail chains using stock manufacturer's photo's too.

Ugly either way.

Both look terrible. If you have to angle your bars back that far to reach the levers while on the hoods, your stem is likely too long.

What's the old rule? That the ends of the bars should be pointing to the rear wheel axle? Although I doubt that still applies with modern bar shapes.

1. Is ugly. If you have to flip stem then you've bought the wrong bike.

2. Looks like the bars are turned to far up for my liking.

1. Bar position with 2. stem position would look right to me.

I can't imagine wanting the bars and hoods angled straight with the stem in any rise position, even the 6 degree rise position.

One looks OK to me -- bars relatively level (look rotated very slightly down from level to me) and an easy transition to the hoods. I can see that being a comfortable position for the rider. Two, as everyone has noted, is simply ugly because of the bends. Looks like those god-awful bars that Bikes Direct foists on just about every customer.

Neither example is particularly elegant. I don't like the bent look either, but the first example is not bad. The bottom one, however, is a bad example of a good idea (overlong stem and ugly bars, as others have mentioned).

Ritchey bio-max perhaps? They were very popular about five years ago, even here on bike forums. Especially recommended for cyclocross.

Having said that, I too grew to find them unattractive and felt they had an uncomfortable/unsafe hand position when trying to descend at high speed deep in the hooks and so I took them off my Ritchey cyclocross bike in favor of some more contemporarily shaped compact dropish 3T ergo-something.

Those kind of handlebars are just plain fugly. Add to that the upsloping stem, and it is just plain fredly- something I wouldn't even be seen on!

For aesthetics, I prefer a down-sloping stem, with classic smoothly-curved bars (Aeroflys will work, too!) with the ends parallel to the ground- and as luck would have it, that set-up i also what I find to be most comfortable.

I, for one, am glad that Cinelli is still making the 1A stem and polished aluminum handlebars.

Guess I'd better get back to classic and vintage.

I agree.

Reminds me of a broken bone.

I'm an idiot. I set up my bike so it is comfortable to ride and then I ride it.

Now that I have learned from BF, I am going to put a wall-sized mirror in my garage, put my bike on a stand, and spend all day looking at myself sitting on it.

Couldn't agree with this statement more! After my first decent descent on my gazelle I decided to swap the bars out. I experienced speed wobble when braking in the hooks which is never comforting

Both are ugly

Top tube, stem, bar tops, and bar bottons should all be parallel. This implies top tube is also horizontal to ground.

Levers should be perpendicular.

Anything else is uncivilized.

Even ergo bars can be done right.
A bit of spacer is acceptable (to maintain desired contact point) as long as the setup conforms to this geometry

Any deviation from this and you should be thrown to the wolves