Thanks Sam.

There are lots of factors involved - bike size, handlebar dimensions, where you position your hands, the type of riding you do, what you're used to, etc...

I think there are some indexed shifters that only let you go up-down one click at a time, and there are others that let you do multiple. If I was racing, I'd want indexed. Since I don't, I wouldn't feel significantly advantaged, or disadvantaged using bar cons, down tubes, or STI. If there was some sort of equipment failure - then I'd want them to not be STI.