I was underwhelmed when trying sti's when they were first introduced. The extra weight was immediately noticeable: the steering felt a bit more ponderous compared to my dt shifter bike. The oversized hoods looked unsightly. I didn't like bending the brake/shift lever inward.

Theoretically, being able to shift and brake simultaneously, and being able to do so without taking one's hands off the handlebar seemed ideal, but the execution just seemed very awkward. I tried it again on the 2010 models and STI seemed quite a bit nicer.

I think I'd prefer to be able to shift without moving the brake levers. Will take a look at sram and campy. Well, probably not campy since they're not spec'ed on a lot of bikes in the under $1500 range.

I'm sure by 2014 sti is quite nice. I find it a bit strange that there is still no consensus on how to make 'ergonomically correct' brake and shift levers after all this time.