Hi
@Iainj837
I tried butterfly bars on my usual bike once, on a 200km DiY Audax last September. I concur with
@steveindenmark in thinking that they totally look the part:
View attachment 536707
Acknowledgements from roadies were well down though.
I would say the experiment was a qualified success. I get some fatigue in my neck and shoulders after 10 hours riding with drops (nothing to suggest there's anything wrong with my setup) and the variety of positions provided by the butterflies did seem to help. When needing to look over my shoulder in the later stages, it was good to be able to take a firm grip with my left hand.
But in the end, nothing could compensate for the loss of my favourite position, hands resting on the shoulders of the bars, fingers relaxed and spread across the hoods. My next ride was a 140-miler and the drops were back for that.
If it's of any interest, I've kept the bars in the pictures above intact, with cables, brakes and shifters attached. The sponge grips are covered with black bar tape. They take up space, and I'm very unlikely to use them again...