You'll be losing quite a bit of braking power when braking from the hood as compared to braking either from a traditional flat bar grip or from the drops.

If you don't want to use the drops, you've gone to quite some effort only to get a thumbs-forward riding position. Bar ends or a North Road bar would have done about the same at less effort and less risk of having to force a 22.2 hole over a 23.8 bar.

Why not? Live somewhere really flat? Or actually don't ride much?