Touring - Ergopower and Touring, insight?

So I have been a die-hard believer in bar-end shifters for touring since I started. I have also been a die-hard believer in STI on my road bike.

I have taken a new job starting next september, which is live-in, and the space is very limited.

I am "downsizing", that is making one bike do the job of both my road bike and touring bike. I do a few road races a year, but I am not competitive, so weight is not an issue, and geometry can be relaxed.

However, I dont think I could race with bar-ends. It would just weird me out.

I saw MarkW is running Ergopower on his LHT. Do you run into durability problems with this? I know Ergopower is light years ahead of STI, so are they durable enough?

I plan to consolidate a Surly Crosscheck (was going to be LHT, until this downsizing) fully decked for touring, and a Cannondale R3000si (ultegra). My new frame will be custom built with a similar geometry to the Cannondale (same top tube, seat tube length), with one degree relaxation to the head and seat angles, and the same chainstay length as the crosscheck (about an inch shorter than a LHT)

Circle A Cycles custom frame and fork,
Campy Centaur 9 Ergopower, triple crank, cassette and ders.
Phil Wood hubs and BB
King Headset
Thomson stem
Ritchey 46cm bars
B17 w/ Thomson post for touring, Flite w/ Titec Carbon for road riding
Mavic MA3 rims (on Phil hubs), 32 hole 3x straight guage spokes w/ brass nips (handbuild by me)
Conti Top Tour 2000 tires for tour, Vittoria Open Corsa CX for road
Onza canti brakes (old MTB style ones)

Any input on this? I am also considering using two wheelsets (LX on WTB speedmaster that i have used on my check for 3 years) and building a set of road ones too, instead of the "do-all" phil wheels.

I am mostly concerned about Ergopower durability, but comments on any of this would be nice.

My touring is mostly with high school kids, 30-50 miles per day with 60 pound load for the company I work for, but I plan to do a portion of my cross country quest (Astoria to Minneapolis) in April, with probably a 40 pound load. I do use full panniers, as when I tour for work, we often fly to "exotic" touring places, so trailers are a pain to bring on the plane. Hey, that rhymes.

Thanks in advance for any input.

I have ergolevers on my tourer and haven't had any problems with it so far, but I carry a spare DT friction lever.
The cable pull is not ideal for cantelevers so you have to setup carefully. Big downhills on rough tracks are hard work.
You need to take care with the cable run, esp to the front brake. Originally I had a headset mounted cable stop with a short drop but it stressed the cable too much. I recently changed to an older steel one with a longer drop (Rivendell do them) and that relieved the stress a bit.
The Campy triple mech is usable on MTB (46t) chainsets.

I am mostly concerned about Ergopower durability, but comments on any of this would be nice.

If your frame is equipped with conventional down tube shifter bosses you can carry with you a set of down tube shifters in the unlikely event that one of your Ergo shifters crap out on you. It'll be an easy 5 minute conversion on the road...

I switched to Ergos because my right Dura Ace STI stopped shifting, and no amount of wd-40 flush, spring relocation, disassembly and cleaning would bring it back. Yes, I did get it apart and together, and found the worn part. I will not buy Shimano STI brifters again. The campy Chorus is my replacement choice since I prefer ball bearings over bushings. Got them on closeout for 190. The irony is that I have a set of DA 9 speed downtube shifters and I'll probably carry them on tour since they don't weigh much. :) Easy roadside swap, and the campys are rebuildable. You will need to do the hub-bub 90 attachment thing with the cable, or get a Jtek to mix campy and shimano.

Regarding the frame... Are you going to do cyclecross? I went with the LHT because of the longer chainstays and mounts for everything. Most the time I carry 1 bottle and have the fenders on, without racks. I'd worry about heal clearance with panniers on a cyclecross bike. You might want to half split the difference with the chainstays so you can run fenders and bigger tires if needed. The top mount rear brake cable on the cross bikes doesn't jive with me either. That was one of the mods I did on the paramount was to remove those cable guides and put the rear at 7oclock like most road bikes. The other was to respace to 130. I personnally feel the LHT is a better all around bike. I do feel more comfortable on the Paramount at 50+ mph than the LHT however. I'll need to take compartive measurements. :)

Oh.... Thomson posts.... If you size the frame right, the setback post won't work as you will have about a fistfull of post. The non setback won't have enough setback for the B17. I ended up with a Salsa shaft which is a nice post and cheap at one of the many San Diego LBS's... airbomb.com :)

Hi,
if you do try that, you might want to consider adding cyclocross brakes as a backup. Tektro makes some that are both cheap and surprisingly light.