Originally Posted by
cyccommute
That's over 20+ bikes and 30 to 35 shifters (upgrades
). Shifters just don't go bad that often.:
over 20 bikes! Over 30 shifters! jeez.....wow.
I have 3 bikes with brifters; Sora (8 sp), 105 (9 sp) and Dura Ace (10 sp). My first pair was in 1998, Shimano 105, 8 speed. I sold them as they stopped working well in cold weather. Seriously! During the summer they worked fine, but during the spring or fall, the rear brifter was a bugger to shift.
Tried cleaning them out, but made no difference. So I replaced them with a set of 2003(ish) 105 9 speed brifters, and have been fine.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Cable adjustments are simple and take 30 seconds to fix. If your bike isn't shifting right, you should fix it rather than switch over to friction mode. Most of the issues can even be fixed while riding
Some people can't / do not want to learn / couldn't be bothered though.
All depends on priorities.
In short, I feel that the OP would be fine with brifters, but there's always a...but....