Here's what bike looks like:



I have 105 groupset. Bought it second hand. Front shifter doesn't work. Looks like it broke, something inside. I went to a local LBS and the guy said: "yes, those shifters are sensitive, if you fall down, push to hard, anything, it can break". I asked him if there is any shifter that is less sensitive (sora, 105, dura ace -any). He said no, they are all ultrasensitive.

Is it possible to put bar end shifters that are not indexed on my bike? Will it work? Will it be too clumsy? Are these brakes+shifters that sensitive?

This breakdown messed my ride, don't like something unreliable I can't fix myself.

Of course you can do this. I have run a downtube front derailleur shifter with a brifter before (in fact, Lance had his bike set up that way for several mountain stages of the TDF back in the day). It's not unthinkable.

That's good to hear. But are STI that sensitive really? :/

The original 5600 series had issues with the fr shifter. I sent mine back replaced under warranty. The 5601 replace is fine. I upgraded so mine is sitting in a box. E mail me unless this is off limits on the forum.

Friction shifters are the Bicycle Handyman's duct tape. I have fallen back on my thumb shifters on a couple of occasions, and actually don't mind them. 8-10 speed and easy to set up, limited only by the range of your rear derailleur.

I used to own a Fuji Cross with 5600 levers, and sold the bike as soon as I could - the throw was wicked long, and this is how I discovered and now prefer Microshift. I have three bikes, all with Microshift levers, 8, 9 and 10 speed. I wasn't trying, it just happened that way. Even MS 8 speed feels better to me than 5600. My $.02

For the most part they are not. I've been through a couple of sets of 8-speed 105 with over 30,000 trouble free miles on each and have a set of 9-speed 105 (ST-5510) on one bike now and they have been flawless for thousands of miles so far. So, no, Shimano STI's are not all that fragile and your dealer is either trying to sell you a bill of goods or doesn't know what he is doing. Of course, if you are harsh enough you can break anything and perhaps that's what the original owner did.

To answer your other question, yes you can install bar end shifters, either indexing or friction (most give you a choice in the same lever), on your bike and they are rugged and less expensive than brifters. Realistically you cannot install downtube shifters since your bike has no downtube bosses (the cable housing stops are on the headtube) and the downtube is too large for any normally available band-on set.