mtnbke

That bike is two small for you by like seven cm. Sure you like comfortable upright bars, I get that, but your relative saddle/bar height reveals you're perched on top of a frame that is much much too small. The problem with using such a too small frame is that you have to resort to inane contrivances to get the handlebars into a relatively appropriate height. You prefer bars slightly above saddle height, which only exacerbates the problem. I think you're going to talk yourself into loving that frame, but what you really need is something that fits you, and that just flat doesn't. It isn't some modern compact sloping geometry bike. You shouldn't have anything more than a fistful of post. This is like giving someone who needs a 63cm a 56cm. That is probably a great bike for someone weight/height appropriate, however, with that flexy hi-rise stem you've turned it into something low-end in terms of how it will ride for you.

Also the Velo Orange cables aren't "compromised." I'm not a huge fan of their stuff, but you're trying to use a ridiculous extension stem on a much too small for you frame (a bigger frame at that). Plus you're wanting to run big loopy curves from your barends. That's not a problem with the cables you bought, or the housing, that's a problem with your expectations about length. Your comment was a bit disingenuous. Would it be fair for me to say that the Velo Orange cables were compromised because they weren't long enough for my tandem?

Also the Silver Dia-Compe shifters that Rivendell sells aren't all they are cracked up to be, per Grant's ad copy. The thing is Grant can't sell source original Sun-Tour Accushift Bar-cons anymore, so he can't sell 'em to you. So he rewrites his dogma and ad-copy to fit what he can buy and resell. The silver shifters are what they are. There are much much better shifters available. I suggest you read some of Grant's ad-copy regarding the shifters he used to spec on Bridgestone's and his rants about the high water high yen stuff from the 80s coming out of Japan. Instead of buying Taiwanese Dia-Compe Silver shifters get some Kelly Take-Offs and mount Suntour Superbe Pro indexing shifters for poor-man's ERGO/STI.