Bodhbh
Guru
Wouldn't have thought it would be an issue. I commuted on my touring bike with butterfly bars for a several months. I spent about 90% of the time on the sides, but never had any problem breaking or switching gear in traffic (and only started cycling since childhood again last year). I thought a flatbars might be more suitalbe for a short commute, so my next bike has flatbars + barends, but spend 80-90% of the time on the barends away from the brakes again anyhow.