I'll leave the in-depth discussions of cross gear to other who know something about it , but your 44 cm handlebars did catch my eye. How did you end up with 44 cm bars? Did you measure, or did you "inherit" them or find a good deal? Also, don't those bell laps have flared drops? So depending on how the bars are measured, they could be even wider at the drops...

It is possible that 44 is the right size for you, but not knowing anything about your height and build, I would think that there is a good chance they could be too big. It seems like most of the women here measure between 38-40 (some considerably smaller). Some people like to use a bar that's a bit wider than their shoulders, but usually not much more than 2 cm or so. (Of course now that I've said that, someone will come along who likes them much bigger, but on average ...).

Just a thought.

Congratulations on your new bike! I tested a Poprad and liked it a lot.