I have a confession to make: I have never owned a bike that I ride regularly, that uses brifters. Perhaps that's no surprise to C&V folks, but most cyclists who ride road bikes made from the 90s until now might consider me a Luddite or retrogrouch for not having done so.
And now, having purchased two bikes recently that both have the same brifters (90s Shimano Ultegra), I don't know if I ever will have brifters.
On the
Giordana, I was told by my mechanic friends that I should buy a new pair ($200) or source-out a 9-speed Sora set for cheaper on ebay or such. Neither the front or rear derailleur shifted, and new cables didn't fix the issue. I was told that this generation of Ultegra brifters had issues, and "it's like a clock-works in there."
On the
Della Santa I just picked up yesterday, it's the same 90s Shimano Ultegra brifters (haven't checked the numbers yet, though) with the same issue: no shifts whatsoever, front or back.
I have test-ridden new bikes with brifters, but they felt just so... cheesy, fragile, weird. It just seems like a fundamentally flawed design concept to me. From the perspective of someone who believes in the
UNIX philosophy (to borrow a computer-related metaphor) of "simple tools that do one thing, and do it well," brifters are complex, and do neither shifting nor braking particularly well.
I'm sure there must be better ones out there; maybe the high-end stuff is great. But in my admittedly limited experience with brifters so far, I just can't see myself owning and using these on any future bikes that I ride regularly.