Thanks. Perhaps an idea.

My thinking is that if I can convince my wife to ride more (or increase her enjoyment of riding), she might later (be willing to) graduate to a better bike.

At that time, I'd re-install these original bars to sell it. It seems that people really want to buy their vintage bikes as close to original as possible (or as naked frames). This is a 1984, too.

Still, I didn't know about the trick to get that padding off. That raises other prospects.

But, I like that stem noted above. Still trying to sort out brake levers and whether I should switch to an easier shifter setup.

I'm still learning...

Thank you all for the ideas!

Owen