It is interesting that you brought that up. It is an issue that I have been playing with. I was experimenting with my adventure bike (haven't selected a touring bike yet) and raised the handlebar up 4.5" over the saddle height. It put me in a very comfortable position, but I felt that I had lost some of the handling ability of the bike as I was now sitting up more but still using the drop bars but riding on the shifter handles. I lowered the HB down to only 2" and it seems to handle a lot better. I think I would like to try either a Jones Bar or a Butterfly Bar on my touring bike... and go with a little more sit up and live with the fact that in a head wind I will either have to work harder or ride slower...but then a touring bike isn't about riding at road bike speeds. Let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.