I have a bar-end shifter on my 1x9 Redline CX bike: my mission for the summer was to get her out of her single gear setup and into a 1x setup by the fall...using as many parts out of my spare parts box as I could. Admittedly, it feels odd compared to brifters because I'm relearning how to use bar ends properly, but I love that I can sweep through the entire cassette in a single go. The big problem I've had is that I can't find any references on how to use a bar end shifter safely, which is one of the reasons I prefer brifters. It does feel a bit...risky moving my hands as much as I do when shifting, though: I've been trying to shift with my last two fingers while resting my hand on the drops, but I've reflexively reaching with my index finger. I consider this to be a very bad thing, but as I said, I've been training myself to not do it because I still consider bar end shifters to be an interesting and enlightening experience.

I'm really not thrilled about the 'meh' bar tape job, but that's more of a cosmetic thing that anything else.