Really? I rode it today and thought they were kinda harsh on the legs, but not bad enough to give bruises. Where did you get the other two since it only touches in two places on the legs? Granted, I am more petite so bars usually give me less problems.
I'm pretty small too and I felt like that was part of the problem. Every time I went over a hill I would come out of my seat and hit the bars. My bruise was on my upper thigh and then where my pelvic bone sticks out. So basically where it was making contact with my thighs and then where it made contact in my abdomen, but I'm skinny so my bone sticks out further.
I was sitting in the very back seat so that might be part of the problem.