Originally Posted by
Inpd
Let me understand, are you saying you've experienced unreliability in your brifters or you believe they will be unreliable.
I don't know what you guys are doing with your brifters but I rode the bottom of the range Claris STIs for 8000+ miles and they were as good when I sold the bike as when I bought it.
No, what I am saying can be stated a number of ways:
1) Brifters have more to break and I want a simpler design.
OR
2) The Brifter MTBF is higher than the down tube or bar-end shifter MTBF and I want to achieve a higher level of reliability.
Not to mention, I find myself riding down in the drops less and less over time (back issue after a car wreck). At this rate, in a few years the back/neck arthritis will make brifters a real pain.