That must be regional. Definitely not in this area, on the actual TT/Tri bikes. SRAM dominates the high-dollar folks, especially with the "return to center" indexed shifters. Below that, the majority are on Shimano's 9sp and 10sp bar end shifting, definitely indexed. Very few are on Campagnolo bar end shifting, as few, if any shops carry it or can even set it up. Note also that this crowd doesn't do a lot of their own maintenance or setup.

There may be someone around here running friction bar ends, but I've not seen any. Heck, I didn't even know you could set some of those bar ends to friction. I had some DA bar ends, (with the warning on them about using the right RD) and can't recall even being able to move them to friction. I never checked the owner's manual, though, because they came used.

The only difference I've seen in bar end setups here are "up" or "down." Some riders like to mount the shifters to pull cable while pointing down, and some like them the opposite way. I once heard a triathlete say to another "your shifters are upside down," to which the other replied "show me the "up" side." Then they started looking all over their shifters, and both advised the other to "try it my way, see what happens." I doubt if either elected to unwrap, re-route, re-wrap just to satisfy curiosity.

As for the cable run affecting indexing, I must disagree. Thousands of riders run bar end shifters on drop bars, with a longer cable run, to no ill effects, and many do it with brake housing, not shifter housing. I've built about a half dozen tri-bikes and maintain about 5 for other people. It's never been an issue. My last build was a 9-sp with Sunrace DT shifters mounted on the aerobars, and they were dead-on accurate.
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