Originally Posted by LarDasse74

I feel that brifters make the most sense ergonomically... your hands are more likely to be close to the brake levers than the flats on the end of your bars.

However, brifters are more complicated and are pretty much impossibe to repair (especially on the side of the road), have no friction option (because if something can go wrong - something WILL go wrong), are slightly heavier (but not enough to make a difference to 99.9999% of riders on the road), and cost 3X or 4X more than bar end shifters.

All that being said, I have Brifters on one bike and I love them. I have Bar end shifters on another and I love them. I am building a new bike and I am planning on bar end shifters, but depending on availability, I may go with brifters (for an Alfine IGH).