Thanks Sal.
Yeah, I fiddled with the modern carbon bars, but the abrupt bend that give us such a comfortable & broad interface in the drops kind of narrows the possible range of brifter mount options. If you shift the brifters a little down, the levers angle down & back to the point of no longer working. I will fiddle with them more after l'Etape. But I do really like the look (and especially the feel when standing & climbing) of the drop-ins.
(These are the actual [noodly af] Scott Drop-Ins mounted on my Hot-Dog-on-a-Stick bike.)
As much as I loath him, I don't think we can blame Armstrong; he just happened to be making the headlines when brifters became popular.
This isn't a "marginal gains" difference. My standing form feels utterly
transformed with these vintage bars. Feels so much more fluid, natural, and powerful than the unsettled, wobbly feeling of the carbon bars.