I find two things remarkable about this thread. It was started on the assumption that left-hand brifters stink, but then we find (a) the one we are talking about is supposed to be BROKEN and (b) it is meant to do two jobs (triple and double) instead of one it was designed to do (double). BTW, there are specific left-hand brifters available on the second-hand market that are designed for both double and triple use, but I think they came only in Ultegra format).

The second is that a discredited narcissistic cyclist who now has nothing to show in the record books because he cheated, but worse, bullied everyone around him, is used as a reference point.