Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
simple convenience.
why bend down if you don't have to? Why take a hand off if you don't have to?
I would bet money that very few recreational cyclists would say they want $100 and downtube shifters instead of their current STI setup.
If you're riding drops, then you're already bending over.
Decades ago, those "recreational riders" that didn't want to move the hands very far, and etc... went to stem shifters.
The modern equivalent:
