Originally Posted by geraldatwork
I had been using down tube shifters on my old Raleigh Super Course. I was skeptical of the shifters on the breaks in addition to why would I possibly need a 10 speed. Well I love the new shifters. Just a simple click and it shifts positively to the next geat. Click it 3 times and it moves 3 gears. I find myself shifting more frequently which helps to maintain speed and cadence. As far as having 10 speeds I find myself shifting the front chainring less often as I have an effective 8 gear choice in each front ring. My hands never have to leave the handle bar whether I am riding the tops or on the drops. I still ride the old Raleigh occasionally but now find it a pain to shift gears and wind up riding my trip in only one or two gears. If it matters the drive train on my new bike is Ultegra.
I agree with "geraldatwork" completely, being a Luddite is all well and good and if that's part of you identity that’s fine also, but do give the brifters a fair chance. There advantages so far outweigh there disadvantages it’s amazing. I just went to brifters about a year and a half ago and they very quickly became second nature.
As far as weight goes, bikes are so light now even with the few extra grams from brifters. And the idea that there is something otherworldly and euphoric about shifting with friction shifter as Grant Peterson says is kind of silly. (“Not to mention the tactile joy of silently slipping (friction mode) that chain over and getting a satisfying ka-chunk in your ear. Or the joy of fiddling around fine tuning to get that perfectly seated chain“.) I love to ride and never really considered the act of shifting to add anything to the joy of riding. To me there is something euphoric about having the gear I need (want) at my fingertips when I want it.
Just for the fun of it, go to a bike shop and test ride a few of the “new” style bikes with brifters. Now, you may hate them, but you just may walk with a new bike.
As you can tell I think brifters do add to the joy of riding.