Originally Posted by SoreFeet
From my perspective bar end shifters are the economical winner.
Sure, so are manual transmissions in automobiles. That doesn't keep the public from buying automatics almost universally. "Economical" isn't the controlling factor in most purchases.
Remember lots of racers used bar end shifters/downtube shifters/fixed gears back in the day. Keep your bike simple and it will reward you.
Of course they did, there was nothing else available. Eddy Merckx used downtube shifters and so did all of his competitors as they had no alternative. You can be certain that if he were racing today, he'd use the absolute latest technology available. Today even amateur racers use STI/Ergo and they have to pay for their own equipment.