Originally Posted by Ken Brown
I actually do understand what you are saying. We are comfortable with what we know and my brifters have worked flawlessly for 5+ years so I can't see an advantage to having them separate.
Is this the royal "we?"
I can see several advantages, depending of course upon application and personal preferences.
- Brifter cabling, unless you do something custom, will interfere with putting a large handlebar bag in between your drops.
- Brifters are usually more expensive than separate brake / shifter setups.
- Bar-end and MTB-style shifters are typically more rugged than brifters.
- Brifters are usually high quality, but if they ever do break, they are more complex (and expensive) to fix.
- Touring seldom requires the speed / control advantages of brifters.