Damn, you guys are good!
This is my dilemma; I just upgraded my tourer (former Giant Escape R2, Japanese market model) with a Surly Cross check frame, drop bars, and Shimano Tiagra shifters. A week into using the new setup, the ****ing front shifter locked up
Tourer, fun bike, commuter; bar end shifters sounds like a good fit. The thing is that I like to climb and stump on it aggressively, as in shifting while off-the-saddle (no, I don't wonder why I can't get more life out of my chains) and pull on my horns while climbing. I'm wondering if the bar end shifters would dampen my groove by having to move my hands from the horns.
And for the record, I wasn't doing anything of the above when the shifter locked. As I said, one week of light commuting and out of the blue, no more shifting.
I have a compact crank, and managed to get the rear Tiagra dérailleur to wrap around an 11/28 cassette. I'm considering going triple but I won't know for sure until I hit the big mountains with a load on.