No mention really of Sora here
I am still pondering it simply because I hate the way the thumb shifter is positioned
That's the reason I didn't mention it. Even if it works as well it has that different shifting mechanism that makes it less desirablt than the rest.
converting the thumb shifters to operate like the shifters on 105 and up
It's actually the Tiagra and up that have the conventional shifting mechanism. So might even consider just upgrading your flight deck to Tiagra. Then you'd also be full Tiagra. My Tiagra flight deck works flawlessly and very smoothly. Just a thought.