Have had some Mary bars on my Disk trucker for a few months now, and am finding I get sore elbows. I have worked out that it is due to the increased sweep. Obvious move would be to go back to fleegles, as I am running mtb brakes and shifter. My fleegles were brilliant, but I gave them away to spread the good word, so would have to buy some more. Before I do, perhaps I should consider drops? Though this would require more money for avidroad brakes, brake levers, new shifters etc etc. Are down tube shifters annoying for someone used to proper bar mounted indexed shifters? I don’t really want to spend a small fortune on sti!
Any other alternatives to consider?

25-06-13 test 006 by 20ston, on Flickr

these are pretty comfy, but a similar hand position to a mary.

I currently use down-tube shifters on my winter bike after SRAM brifters blew up on me and I couldn’t be bothered with the replacement cost.

Personally, I quite like them. I can see that they would be a serious disadvantage in a race, but if you’re just mooching along it isn’t an issue. Also, friction shifters are excellent.

This Rivendell spiel puts it quite well.

priced up building up tiagra with down tube shifters and bb7s, hypothetically 170 squid on crc. 15 quid to go back to fleegles…. (support your local bike shop kids). Hmmmmm!