That's a totally different category. Indexed shifting predates brifters*, and although indexing is necessary for most forms of brifter, I'd argue that integration had a significantly larger impact on how bikes are ridden.

*By six years if you're talking SIS, about a decade and a half if you're talking about the late-20th-century Japanese derailleur indexing race in general, or considerably longer if you're talking about all forms of indexing in bicycle drivetrains.

They share common characteristics that separate them from non-integrated road shifters in both placement and functional consequence (of particular note being the ability to easily shift while riding out of the saddle), and so it's often useful to have a non-brand-specific term to refer to them in general. Obviously you could also use a descriptive phrase like "integrated brake/shift lever", but these are a mouthful compared with the simple portmanteau "brifter."


Based on what? Can you point me to an example of a discussion where someone is using "brifter" in a manner that clearly excludes Ergo?

I feel like we're speaking different languages.