Anyone put road bars on their tri bike?

I did.  I was in a similar predicament, I bought a used Trek Equinox Tri Bike for like $300 on craigslist, so it wasn't like I bastardizing an expensive bike.  Picked up some new shifters and a bar, and had it swapped at the LBS.  I ended up adding the aerobars back on, but for 95% of my riding (which is not in a race), the road bars are preferable.

Eventually, I'll get dedicated road and tri bikes.

Yeah, I'm wondering if it would be that different than say a Venge, or a S5?

Chrissie did it specifically for the Alpe D'Huez tri.  Not saying you should or shouldn't, but it can certainly be done.

ETA - if you are not comfortable in the aero position you may want to get refit.  I don't like being aero on the trainer, but have no issues on the road.  It does take some time to adjust if you're new to the position, but the bike is designed to be ridden in an aero position.

(rsz_img_rep_5123_1.jpg)

This was my first thought as well.  What is it specifically that you find so uncomfortable?

To answer your question, I've never seen anyone switch out a tri bike base bar for road bars, but my old bike came with road bars and aero bars, so it's not that uncommon to see.  Here's what mine looked like:

How many rides, or miles have you put into the new bike - in the aero position?  Were you originally fitted when you got the bike?

I moved from a road to Tri bke last season, and had a fitting done before getting out on the road.  In the first 2 minutes of being in aero, all I thought was  - OMG, I've made a huge mistake with the fitting.  It was so "aggressive" compared to how my road bike with clip on's felt.  BUt I just needed to adapt, I put my faith in the fit, and gave it an honest chance.  Yes my neck hurt, and yea I felt crammed, but body did acclimate to the position.  I was just so used to riding a slack position, that the Tri geometry plus a more aggressive fit felt very strange and uncomfortable.  But I ended up being very happy with the fit and feel, and at the end of the season I actually dropped the position a bit lower.

Sure, here's a quick pick (before I added the aero bars back on).

It's not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but it fits me pretty good and is comfortable on long rides.  I didn't want to spend a bunch of money at the onset of a sport I wasn't sure I would like, but it works for me (for now).  A new, proper bike is on my list of things to buy this winter.

Here it is as I bought it:

I've actually just started doing this with an old 2001 P2K frame that I bought on here last year. The frame is currently out getting a shiny, new powder coat paint job, but I expect to have it fully built and rolling by the end of May.