Originally Posted by
clasher
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I like and use a triple on my rando bike but it's getting harder to find nice cranks for a decent price, and shifters are either downtube or tiagra/sora, unless one goes campagnolo.
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Or bar end shifters. I use bar end shifters on two touring bikes, front is friction instead of indexed. It does not take long to get used to using the front friction bar end with a triple.
I have never seen anyone use a bar end front with brifter rear, but there is no reason you could not do that. My rando bike has a brifter rear and downtube friction front shifter. The downtube shifter started as a temporary measure while I thought about what I wanted for permanent use, but now that I have had the friction downtube shifter for five years, it is slowly becoming permanent.