I'm a teacher with scads of summer time so I'm thinking of getting a touring bike for some summer excursions. So far I've looked at the Trek 520 and the Surley LHT. I've also observed some pictures on this thread of other bikes.

Why do touring bikes come mostly with bar end shifters? I primarily ride a road bike and find that riding "on the hoods" is very natural and I usually only go into the drops in headwinds or straight speed runs. I am also most comfortable having my hands on brifters so shifting and braking doesn't require a hand shift.

I'm sure I can get used to bar ends but do they work as smoothly as brifters? Have any of you converted bar end bikes to brifter bikes?

Thank you.