What I have come to realize (recently) is that for guys that ride straddled all the time, the bars can be up. I run the high bars + 1" riser (I am 6'0"). It is very comfortable to me and works perfect if you are always straddling. After riding with a guy in our group that does a lot of low speed, wrong foot forward creeping in the technical stuff, I realized that my higher bars do not work at all in that situation. The problem I am having is that I don't want to re-learn to ride! I can maneuver through about anything straddled, but you have to carry some speed doing that. Watching my riding buddy walk his through the really tight spots, I know that this is something I have got to learn. There are situations where you just cant straddle and throttle through.
Sat in the garage for over 2 hours Sunday staring at that 1" riser thinking, its gotta come off.....and somewhere deep inside of my neanderthal brain, I kept saying no. I spent forever getting my setup right where I wanted it. Changing this will be a huge transition and I will put me back in the learning curve.
Old dog new tricks... I am getting to be an old dog and don't really want to learn the new tricks hahaha
--Chris
PS I can wrong foot forward when I am moving, its trying to creep or start from a dead stop with wrong foot forward that I struggle with. I swear, every time I hit the throttle in that position, I either hit a bump or have to let off real quick and it damn near puts me over the bars