I'm scratch-building a touring bike. I know what range of gear-inches I want to cover. What I'm debating is how many gears I want to use to cover the range. Currently, I have a 3x8 setup on my non-touring, do-everything bike. I often get pissed off, hopping up and down between two cogs because neither of them is quite what I wanted. I've calculated a 3x10 setup (and actually found the parts to make it) that would cover my desired range with much smaller gaps between gears. I plan on using either barcons mounted on Paul Thumbies or downtube shifters mounted on Kelly Take-Offs. I haven't decided which yet. So I'll have something with both index and friction modes either way.

My concern, however, is the touring aspect of this build. 10 cogs are all well and good if you can hit them reliably. With a barcon/DT shifter, is the system reliable enough for touring, or is 10-speed too fiddly for real touring?