It depends on where you are from. A lot of Europeans use flat bars, a lot of Americans use drop bars. You are correct, it is about comfort and control. I'm not trying to win a race while touring. So my bikes are set up for comfort, relaxed geometry, fat tires. I like the more upright position when touring. I can more easily look around at the scenery.

I also have never noticed a great difference in aerodynamics when in the drops. At least not enough on my touring bike to make it an issue when deciding which bars to use. If I get a strong head wind while touring, I'm just going to drop to a low gear and take my time.

I like the Nitto North Road Handlebars. The are actually like flattened drop bars and give you several different positions. My favorite position is resting my hands "sphinx-like" on top of the horizontally mounted hoods.

You'll like drops once you get into some strong wind.

I agree. Strong headwinds are the only time I miss drops.

the forward bend on trekking bars and bent elbows do some of that torso lowering too..

frontal area of panniers remains, though ..

This is EXACTLY what my wife told me last night when I told her I was converting my flat bar to drops. And here I thought she was relatively ignorant of bike stuff! That really surprised me last night!

+1 all of this.

I have tried both. My flats had small bar ends. I needed real off road capability about 10 percent of the trip, including some fairly steep drops while running with 4 panniers. Flat bars put my brake levers where I could reach them with my posterior way behind the saddle and REAL breaking power. Otherwise I run drops. When I crossed Kansas/Eastern Colorado uphill and against the wind, I lived on the drops for a week.

Like the man said, if you never use the drops, your bars are probably too low. If you like your bars low, flats should work fine even into a wind. Sooo many choices in drop bars. Perhaps less of a drop than what you currently have? Multiple hand position options can be a wonderful thing. I alter my hand position on my bars every few minutes out of habit unless there is some reason (city traffic) that keeps my hand on the hoods near the brake levers.

Good observation, I have had several European "trekking" bikes pass through my hands (a couple have stuck around) and most of them have had flat bars, I have converted one to drops.

I currently have two basically identical bikes, I am going to keep one with flat bars and one with drops and see which I prefer in the long run. FWIW both are Giant Excursions. Both were originally flat bars, both were converted to drop bars. One is mine the other belonged to my brother. The brifters on the one I got from him crapped out so the flat bars go back on.

Aerodynamics while in touring form is an oxymoron...you have panniers hanging out in the wind, which can be a curse or blessing depending on whether it is a head wind, cross wind or tail wind.

Aaron

I went from flat bars to trekking bars and then to drops and I like the drops better than the other 2 ways.

Since we are talking about preferred handlebars, how many tourists install aero bars on their flat or drop bars?

Although I rarely use my aerobars -- maybe 5% while touring, less while commuting -- I am glad they are there when headwinds are nasty, my hands or arms are aching, or I am climbing very steep hills.

Rule of thumb, when you change something, don't get rid of all the old stuff right away! You may want to go back later, or have the original for if you sell the bike.

I realized the other day that almost all my bikes have drops. I have to have them because of shoulder injurys. And I am all over them, tops, hoods, drops, outside edge, and sometimes on the top curve with my wrists up. For climbing I will often use the drops more than the hoods. There is no way to figure % on what part for me.
+2 to raising the bar. My touring rig is an older quill stem bike, so somtimes I will raise and lower it depending on wind, terrain, and how the shoulder is feeling. lower for the mountains or when I need to get to the destination before sunset. Higher in flatter territory. In addition to the quill my stem is adjustable, so if I absolutely have to I can raise it up to Grant Peterson specs

Funny story, I was riding with some others that were going in the same direction, and at a rest stop I raised my stem because it was a rare tailwind day on really flat ground.
One of the other riders asked her husband(who apparently owned a bike shop and had not quite sneered at my bike)to do the same to her bike. She got really upset when he had to explain that her headset was to advanced to do that

I think it also has a lot to do with bike fit due to frame size. I buy most of my bikes used and I normally wont buy one that’s way out of my size range but slightly larger or smaller than perfect and a different bar type can do wonders. My Cannondale I never rode on the drops. The frame was a smidge short and it came with Sora shifters with the thumb buttons and if I did get down in the drops I couldn’t shift. In that case I tried something crazy with an old set of bars and chopped the drops off. That bike as a road bike I like the bull horn feel a lot, great control and braking also.

Another bike I found old 10 speed the frame was a little tall for me and the bar height wasn’t an issue as much it had a bit too much reach for regular drops and below is how I set that up.