Convert road bike to cross?

[Eden]

Sounds like the voice of experience?

Nah - I've only had down tube and STI equipped bikes, but I've seen what just hitting the regular end of the bar (and what hitting a handlebar that the end has fallen out of - not me thankfully - NEVER ride with out plugs in place!) can do to a person's leg... my imagination thinks about what something sticking out even further and possibly being pointy might do. At least the pointy end of the shifter is mobile, so the possibility of really skewering yourself would probably be remote??

[SadieKate]

... my imagination thinks about what something sticking out even further and possibly being pointy might do. At least the pointy end of the shifter is mobile, so the possibility of really skewering yourself would probably be remote??

But it's not really that pointy and it has a built in hinge. Probably absorb some impact that a rigid bar doesn't. Rremember that things which are clamped on your bike tend to move in a crash and while other things break.