New (9/10 speed) DA works the same as everything else Shimano. It's just the old 6-8 speed stuff that was weird, as far as I know. I'll probably stick with the Silver shifters (as bar ends) for a while -- they beat any other friction shifter I've used. A friction option is a must for me as well.

I will need to look into the crankset issue. I would really like to keep the funny Biopace rings.