On Sat, 17 Feb 2018 23:55:46 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

That is an accurate description how it went in the old days. For me 30
years ago. I know no serious cyclists these days that do not allow
themselves STI shifters or the like because they can break and keep
riding Fred Flintstone bikes. Only people that are into vintage do.

I use DT shifters on all my bikes except for my tanem, which came with
STI. I bought a bike with STI in 1992 when I started racing and it was
a decided advantage over DT shifters in competitive situations. I was
never that comfortable with STI's using the break lever for shifts; I
preferred the Campy Ergo system and switched to that for the rest of my
racing career.

Since stopping racing, though, I've converted everything back to DT
shifters. I use a handlebar bag on two of my bikes and the extra cables
interfere with that. Since I'm not racing, the minor inconvenience of
reaching down to shift is a moot point for me. Plus- maybe this is a
function of my generation- I prefer the looks of DT shifters due to the
reduced cables sticking out the front. Once we have wireless shifters
that are reliable, then I'd probably think about brifters again (this
doesn't necessarily mean bluetooth or something like that; I think it
would be easily possible to connect an electrical circuit through the
frame to control the derailleurs. Possibly using something like the
Rene Herse circuit for powering headlights from a rear triangle-mounted
generator, which used a brush inside the headtube as the connector
from the frame to the fork).