handlebar choice for touring

velorapture said:

Last year I bought an atlantis frame and had it set up with drop bars. I cannot seem to get used to the drops. I find myself always riding with my hands on the tops of the bars, which makes quick use of the brake levers difficult. My neck and shoulders are always sore with the drops and I think it's because I have two fused vertebra in my neck. I also have a Bridgestone CB zip with the upright bars that I ride almost everyday and I find it very comfortable. So my query is should I try the moustache bars, mountain bike bars, or something else?

You need to use what works best for your anatomy.
As you likely know, there are 2 standards for diameter.
If you choose mountain bicycle diameter, shifters/brake levers/stem will need to match. Same goes for the road diameter.
From the Rivendell catalog:
"There are two handlebar diameter standards:

1) Mountain bike (7/8"😉 These take traditional mountain bike components like grip shifters, thumb shifters, rapid fire shifters, v-brake levers, etc. The Dove and Albatross bars fall into this category.

2) Road bike (15/16"😉 These take traditional road bike components like caliper brake levers, STI or Ergo shifters, bar end shifters, etc. The Moustache, Dream, and Noodle bars fall into this category.

Possibly confusing the issue is that there are two stem clamp diameter standards that usually (but not always) correspond to the bar diameter. Most mountain bike bars have 25.4 mm (1"😉 clamp diameters and most road bars have 26.0 mm clamp diameters (except some old Cinelli's were 26.4 so you had to use both their stem and bars). Some old road bars also came in 25.4 mm clamp diameters. Also some bars come with a 25.8 diameter clamp area but they work with the 26.0 stems."

It depends on how big of an investement you want to make in the switch. Campy is now making a range of flat bar Ergopower levers with 22.2mm clamps that fit mountain bike bars. If you want to keep your current shifters/brake levers, you might consider these:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=92&subcategory=1180&brand=&sku=8448&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

velorapture said:

Last year I bought an atlantis frame and had it set up with drop bars. I cannot seem to get used to the drops. I find myself always riding with my hands on the tops of the bars, which makes quick use of the brake levers difficult. My neck and shoulders are always sore with the drops and I think it's because I have two fused vertebra in my neck. I also have a Bridgestone CB zip with the upright bars that I ride almost everyday and I find it very comfortable. So my query is should I try the moustache bars, mountain bike bars, or something else?

I did a 5000+ mile self-supported ride across the U.S. on a Bridgestone X0-1 with moustache bars, fitted with handlebar end shifters. The bars were set up with an extra pair of tandem stoker brake handles as an extra bar position. The set-up worked well for me on days as long as 135 miles and I found that the width of the bars made handling all the weight easier than it might otherwise have been.