Originally Posted by
tjspiel
STIs are spendy and need a road specific front derailleur and crankset. I tried to get one to work on my drop bar conversion and had some success on the stand but out on the road it wasn't very reliable. I ended up using an older set of Campy shifters. The front shifter on classic and some modern Campys have "infinite trim".
Downtube shifters I'm assuming would also use friction shifting for the front which in my opinion is just fine. Index shifting is overkill for a double or triple.
For vintage mtbs, shimano road and mtn bike derailleurs were interchangeable.
I'm no fan of indexing for the front derailleur. I like it for the rear but it is not a big deal.
My point is that for a mtb drop bar conversion, it is unusual to see downtube levers for lots of different reasons and may not be the best choice. I'm an old roadie so I have zero issues with downtube shifters in general and run them on a bunch of different bikes.
Back to the thread topic: I have one commuter set up with flat bars and thumb shifters, another with drops and downtube shifters. They both work, but I prefer the shifters up by the bars for a commuter. I'm thinking of getting the shimano 7 spd STIs for my drop bar bike.